44. New Hampshire: Harvesting Seaweed
Beachcombing is a highly popular coastal pastime, but harvesting natural marine resources is heavily restricted on these specific shores. An old statute makes it completely unlawful for private citizens, because people are strictly prohibited from picking seaweed up off the public beach at night. Historically, seaweed was an incredibly valuable agricultural commodity used by local farmers as a powerful, nutrient-rich fertilizer for their inland crops. To prevent large commercial farming operations from monopolizing the beaches and stripping the delicate shoreline bare under the cover of darkness, the state banned the practice entirely to protect the marine ecosystem.