Yet, it is a surprisingly-good way of forecasting what the fishery is going to look like 7 or 8 years down the road when those fish recruit into the exploitable coastal stock. It’s nothing more intricate than a few guys dragging a sein-net in a few predetermined areas. Maryland’s Juvenile Striped Bass Index (click for larger version)Īn annual Maryland Juvenile Abundance Survey has been occurring in the Chesapeake Bay since the mid-1950s (see chart). While there are other significant producer areas (e.g., the Hudson and Delaware watersheds) and plenty of less significant ones spanning all the way up to Maine, it’s the Chesapeake that produces an estimated 60 to 80 percent of the coastal striped bass stock. Striped bass are anadromous – they spawn in freshwater, but spend most of their adult lives in saltwater. With the intent of addressing overfishing, instead of implementing more traditional methods to curb recreational fishing mortality, like a simple increase to the size limit, the Commission went with an untested/unproven slot size-limit along the coast – between 28 and 35″. According to ASMFC’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management plan, if the stock is determined to be overfished, then the board is required to rebuild the stock within 10 years of the overfishing determination. How We Got HereĪtlantic Striped Bass Female Spawning Stock Biomass and Recruitment (click for larger version)īack in 2019, striped bass were determined to be “overfished” (the “spawning stock biomass” had fallen below a pre-determined threshold) and “overfishing” had apparently been occurring for quite some time. Some folks are furious, some are ecstatic, and some are patting themselves on the back…but for those of us who have followed all of this from the beginning, there’s some concern on what comes next. But the irony here is that such abundance is precisely why the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) felt it necessarily to take emergency action to rapidly put in place a 3″ slot limit on striped bass. This is absolutely because there are an extraordinary number of striped bass around, particularly those in the 28-to-35″ range.Īn increase in angler participation would under normal circumstances be a good thing – for me, for fishing related business, for everyone. And on those days I’m not? All it takes is a couple of Instagram photos to change that. I run a light-tackle charter-fishing operation in New York, so let me start by saying that the striped bass fishing right now is good… I mean, really good!Īs is generally the case with recreational fisheries, abundance drives participation… and the truth is that, like a lot of guides, I’m not having a problem staying booked. In a Move that Caught Many in the Fishing Business Off-Guard, ASMFC Takes Emergency Action

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