February 1, 2015 — HB 464 would assure right to store gear at home.
While New Hampshire fishermen are struggling with federal regulations in the Gulf of Maine, state legislators are trying to give them a break with local regulations on how they store their gear at home.
House Bill 464, filed by Rep. Renny Cushing, D-Hampton, would establish the Fishing Family Protection Act, prohibiting political subdivisions from interfering with commercial and recreational operations of fishing families. Cushing said the bill requires communities to recognize fishing as a “home occupation,” much like the case of an independent plumber who stores his equipment in his home.
“(A fishing family is) not like Red Lobster operating in a commercial zone,” Cushing said. “It’s a guy who is storing traps in the back yard because his workplace is on the ocean.”
State Sens. Nancy Stiles, R-Hampton, and Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth, are among sponsors and co-sponsors.
Cushing believes the bill is a step toward better preservation of an industry that has been a staple to New England for hundreds of years. He said fishing families living on the coastline in New Hampshire have been there for generations.
But the modernization of the coastline and the real estate industry has changed the way the coastline is viewed, Cushing said. Property is often bought for the ocean view today, not for practicality.
“The old fishing houses that used to dot the coast line … many of them now have McMansions on them where fishing traps used to be,” Cushing said.
And that, he added, has led to clashes between fishermen and their neighbors. He said fishermen have faced complaints about how much space the fishing equipment takes up and what it smells like.
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