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Measuring around 18 miles long, New Hampshire has the smallest shoreline of all coastal states. But for about 400 years, it’s been enough to support small boat fishermen in the Seacoast region. They make their livings cruising New England’s waters for cod, lobster, shrimp and other stocks.For decades, the industry’s been challenged by declining populations of fish and shellfish, as well as changing federal regulations. As of 2010, New England fishermen are allowed to catch a set poundage of fish based on their take over a 10-year span. New Hampshire fishermen argue this change has made the cost of working outpace profits, forced many small boats out of business, and discouraged new people from entering the industry. No matter the cause, figures from the US Census Bureau clearly show an industry in decline. In Portsmouth, the Seacoast’s main city, the Census Bureau reports only 0.2 percent of residents work in the “Farming, fishing and forestry occupations” category. That’s compared to 0.6 percent in 2000. A number of New Hampshire fishermen, politicians, and historians believe that without change, the state’s small boat fishing industry is heading toward extinction.Summary provided by StateImpact NH

Trump Administration Could Allow Commercial Fishing In Marine National Monument

This undated file photo released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made during the Northeast U.S. Canyons Expedition 2013, shows corals on Mytilus Seamount off the coast of New England in the North Atlantic Ocean.
NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research
/
via Associated Press/file
This undated file photo released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made during the Northeast U.S. Canyons Expedition 2013, shows corals on Mytilus Seamount off the coast of New England in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Trump Administration Could Allow Commercial Fishing In Marine National Monument

A leaked memo from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke shows he wants to go roll back some protections for national monuments designated by former President Barack Obama. That includes the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument — the first marine monument established in the Atlantic.

In his memo to the White House published in the Washington Post, Zinke says that he would not ban commercial fishing in the remote area, but would have it be administered by the New England Fisheries Management Council.

Conservation groups and others say that’s a bad idea.

“If we have some neutral and pristine ocean environments that aren’t stressed, we can study the impact of ocean acidification and climate change, and that’s going to help fishing communities. We need to know, will the ecological diversity and biodiversity help create a more stable marine environment?” says Zach Klyver, lead naturalist at the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co.

Some fishermen’s groups in New England opposed the monument’s designation last year. A spokeswoman for the fisheries council says it is working on rules that would freeze the footprint where commercial fishing is currently allowed in Atlantic slopes and canyons, including in some parts of the monument, but would not bar it altogether.

Copyright 2017 Maine Public

Fred Bever
A Columbia University graduate, Fred began his journalism career as a print reporter in Vermont, then came to Maine Public in 2001 as its political reporter, as well as serving as a host for a variety of Maine Public Radio and Maine Public Television programs. Fred later went on to become news director for New England Public Radio in Western Massachusetts and worked as a freelancer for National Public Radio and a number of regional public radio stations, including WBUR in Boston and NHPR in New Hampshire.
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