America's commercial fishermen provide the public with some of the world's best seafood: Alaska salmon and halibut, Maine lobster, Gulf red snapper, New England cod - names that make your mouth water. These are the fishermen who support our coastal economies and contribute to our food security, and continue to do so in the face of a growing number of challenges.
Increasingly, commercial fishermen face vast uncertainty about changing ocean ecosystems, complex state and federal management systems, and the staggering costs to enter America's fisheries. These factors have contributed to a new challenge: declining numbers of young fishermen entering the commercial fishing industry. As a coastal community loses its next generation of fishermen, it also loses access to economic opportunity, food security, and its heritage.
As we work together to ensure the health of America's incredible marine ecosystems, we must also find ways to sustain the next generation of fishermen tasked with putting that food on our nation's table. Rather than see fishermen's role in our food system further isolated and diminished, we should equip young fishermen to be successful food producers, responsible marine stewards and valuable additions to their local economies.
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