Foam,
Think we all came to the conclusion back in NOV/DEC when the subject was the topic that the PNG regs allow a flight not to have life rafts if it is within 200nm from a SHORE. Seems one doesn't need to have a runway to land on, just a shore to put the wing on for the punters to walk from the water landing to the "SHORE".
Misama Island as a landing strip.. didn't a Citation II crash, burn with the very very sad loss of 4 lives back in 2010, with one major factor being that it couldn't stop in the available landing distance? Try that in a B738/7 / F100.
However, I see your point..being regulatory compliant is the requirement, albiet the very minimum requirement.
But realty is that we are just talking about putting a couple of life rafts in the overhead bins of a Fokker, ..sure a little bit of weight, a few disgruntled PAX that cant put their suitcase there, and a couple of gingerbeer signatures for the on and off, but in a 30 yr old Fokker, just the feel good factor of a couple of liferafts would be well worth it.
Anyway, kudos for bringing up an old subject, it is still a worthwhile one to discuss.