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Mystic Seaport Staff Shrinks With Layoffs

Wednesday, Apr 22, 2009 | Updated 10:24 AM EST

Paul Thibodeau

Charles W. Morgan in Winter

Mystic Seaport, one of Connecticut's top tourist attractions, is dropping the job ax before the busy tourist season gets underway.

Mystic Seaport is cutting 11 percent of its staff. Eighteen employees at the maritime museum, which includes several historic tall ships and a re-created 19th-century coastal village, will be affected. In November, 14 people were laid off.

Stephen White, the museum's president and director, said the cuts are part of an effort to trim the 2010 operating budget from $15.2 million to $13.6 million.

Endowments and annual gifts to the museum are down, he said, and the organization faces an uncertain summer season due to the recession.