Although management and allocation of marine resources will have a major impact on the future of fishermen in America's coastal communities, it is also true that the future of commercial fishing as an occupation may also depend on what happens in the resource‐dependent communities where commercial fishermen live. This article presents a framework for analyzing the impacts of change in America's coastal communities on commercial fishermen. Two key concepts, gentrification and the “growth machine,”; are summarized and applied to nonmetropolitan coastal communities. Possible projects and policies and their impacts on coastal communities and commercial fishermen are examined. A general conclusion is that many coastal communities, particularly those experiencing rapid recreation‐related development, will have to take explicit steps to protect the land‐dependent portion of their commercial fishing fleet.