FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. - A Fort Myers boat captain reels in a less expensive way to keep his deep sea fishing business afloat by using cooking oil. His efforts have drawn attention from one of Florida's senators!

From the dock, Captain Ramsey Drummond's boat looks like all the others. Once you step on board, you'll notice it smells a little like french fries.

Captain Ramsey converted his charter fishing boat to run on bio-diesel.

"At the time, it was about $4.62 a gallon for off road diesel," said Ramsey Drummond, "So you figure in the middle of season we'd burn through about a thousand a week. so you're looking at 4500 a week just in fuel."

Now he processes his own fuel at home, using cooking oil from the fryers from the restaurant next to his business. It costs him 1.35 a gallon. It keeps the engine on his boat running smoothly, and saves him more than $3,000 dollars a week.

"When you're working on a small budget and trying to keep a boat a float, it definitely helped," said Drummond.

Drummond's efforts caught the attention of Senator Bill Nelson, who thinks this makes financial and military sense for America. "Think how much better we are in defending ourselves than having to spend the money on our military as we do on the US military in protecting those parts of the world from where the industrial world gets energy source," said Nelson while touring Drummond's boat.

Nelson wants to see tax credits offered to people like Drummond who sail toward alternative fuels.

Drummond says customers have also liked the change because now they don't get sick from the sulfur smell of diesel fuel.