Many arrived at the second Winter Farmers Market in Exeter Saturday, Dec. 6 with reusable cloth grocery bags in hand.
When they left, their green bags were packed with containers of raw cow’s milk, organic lamb, fresh kale and produce and other locally produced goodies. Natalie Ewing of Hampton was excited to try the organic elk burger and sausages she discovered at the market as well as the raw cow’s milk, which she said is tough to find.
“I’m a big believer in good nutrition and how that translates into good health and I believe in supporting local farmers,” Ewing said.
Both customers and vendors at the market inside the Exeter Congregational Church said they embraced the concept of buying locally grown and raised food.
(the next market, even bigger than the Exeter one, is this Saturday, December 20th, at MACA in Dover. Details here > )
Portsmouth fishermen seek city support, Written by Hannah Lally
Committee seeks to make fishing fleet a matter of community concern local fishermen
In the hustle and bustle of a business day, Portsmouth’s geographic positioning allows us to pause and look out over the harbor and enjoy our waterfront view.
But it’s easy to look past the struggling fishing vessels that are anchored to this city. While these boats may seem to do little more than bob in the periphery of a Prescott Park picnic, they were once the cultural and economic backbone to the Port City. Currently, however, Portsmouth’s historically prosperous fishing industry struggles to remain afloat.
“The commercial fishing industry is going though some tough times,” said Erik Anderson, of Portsmouth’s Fishing Fleet Committee. He attributes industry stress to current economic decline and “thousands of pages of regulations.”
The chief regulating bodies are the N.H. Fish and Game Department and the National Marine Fisheries Service, which control the basic size, sex, location and quantity of fish that may be taken, as well as the transportation, sale, inspection and processing of all marine species. Though governing agencies have been around for decades, Anderson reports that these regulations are “the most extreme that we have ever seen.”
Lifelong fisherman John Borden remembers what it was like to fish 20 years ago, before the reels of regulations. “It used to be, if you went hard or you worked hard, you could make money, but now it’s become a wash,” he said.
Based on current federal policies, Portsmouth’s groundfish fleet is only permitted to fish 24 days out of the year, a regulatory tactic intended to help rebuild regional stocks of haddock, cod and yellowtail flounder.
In order to maintain full-time employment, fishermen must diversify. Through the course of the year Borden will transform from scallop hunter to lobster trapper to groundfisherman, all of which require separate permits and equipment.
“You can’t get by on one boat,” says Borden, now lobstering for a fraction of the money that he used to make doing the same amount of work.