The following information, excerpted from a report on the February 2006 meeting of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), will help you better understand why wild striped bass should be designated as game fish.
There will be no full stock assessment on striped bass for the year 2006. Instead, ?the Technical Committee will work on extensive improvements to the stock assessment process for the 2007 benchmark assessment?.
SF certainly has no problem with improving data. But in November of 2005, just four months ago, the ASMFC reassured everyone in a blue-sky press release that stock assessment data for striped bass was right on the mark. At that time, we warned everyone that the ASMFC had based their information on a drastically changed methodology that the ASMFC was using to count striped bass. Here is the link to our report: [url=http://www.stripersforever.org/Info/Stripers_Research/I006F4A48.0/2005%20stock%20status.doc:4ba6d]http://www.stripersforever.org/Info/Stripers_Research/I006F4A48.0/2005%20stock%20status.doc[/url:4ba6d] .
Had the ASMFC stuck with the original assessment methodology, we would have been drastically over-fishing the large stripers, and the spawning stock biomass would have slumped far below the acceptable ?threshold? level. The Stripers Forever annual fishing surveys, as well as the government?s own catch per unit effort evaluations indicate a marked decrease in the numbers of large fish that seem to be around. In some areas the decline is considered alarming.
If striped bass had game fish status and were fished for purely recreational use, there would already have been significant cuts in the fishing mortality on mature fish. The ASMFC does not want to entertain cuts because it will mean cuts in commercial quotas, and many of the ASMFC state directors think it is their job to deliver as much commercial quota as possible. This will not change as long as commercial fishing for striped bass is allowed.
A variety of new measures were put in place to limit what some see as unacceptable growth in the trophy striper fishery held in the Chesapeake Bay in the Spring. These measures included: limited number of permits, a cap on charter boats allowed to fish, no increase in the length of the season, elimination of possession tournaments prior to May 1, and an increase in minimum size during part of the season from 28 to 33 inches.
Stripers Forever neither defends nor attacks the spring trophy fishery. We know this is a point of considerable debate. One side says the sexually mature fish are there to breed and should be left alone, while another says that this is the only crack Bay area residents have at these large fish. But we should certainly be prohibiting the commercial taking of large fish in the coastal fishery before we stop recreational fishing. Right now we are essentially saying that an angler cannot catch his own fish, and if he wants a fish to eat, he must buy it at the market, which gets the fish from some guy from who pays $100.00 for a permit. The Massachusetts commercial fishery for large stripers is roughly comparable in size to the Bay trophy season, and almost all of the reported landings are for the exclusive benefit of a couple of hundred participants.
This is a classic example of corrupted public policy and it absolutely must be stopped. Commercial fishing was never meant to replace the public?s right to fish for their own wild striped bass.
In the State of Georgia, stripers (both marine, and fresh water) are a game fish. I didn’t realize there were places where they weren’t. Would it help if I contacted my Federal Representatives on the matter?
My information came in the form of an email from Stripers Forever
<A HREF=“http://www.stripersforever.org/Home/” TARGET=_blank>
Here</A> is a link to their home page.
Let me quote from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries CommissionStriped Bass Stock AssessmentReleased in Oct. 05 and revised in Nov. 05:
"Resource remains at high level of abundance at 65.3 million fish, 10% higher than stock size for the previous 5 years... The stock is not overfished and overfishing is not occuring... Total catch has risen to 5.2 million fish... recreational harvest and [recreational]discards account for 72.5 percent of total mortality."
Having in one’s posession only a very small amount of common sense would cause very much doubt in the validity of THAT figure…and even the ability to collect the proof of the data.
I think one should carefully examine where the money came from on this one.
…lee s.
from what i understand the commercial season stops right before the c&r season in the bay. there are also limits as to the size and number the commercial guys can keep. nothing over 28" is allowed.
living near the bay and on the spawning tribs for the fish, i can tell you it there is stict enforcement im md.
there has also been a great comeback since the moritorium that was put in place. we are seeing more and more rock in the rivers, and larger ones.
In Mass. the commerical season starts on July 12.
The minimum lenght is 34".
Legal possession limit;
Sundays…5
Tues, Wed, Thur…30
A Mass commerical striper fisherman can and will harvest 95 fish over 34" every week untill the season closes
These fish are prime breeding age.
I have harvested one fish in my life time
“such a day, Rum all out.
Our Company somewhat sober.
A damn’d Confusion amongst us!
Rouges a plotting; great Talk of Separation,
So I look’d sharp for a prize; such a Day took one,
with a great deal of Liquor on board,
so kept the Company hot,
then all Things were well again.”
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=“1” face=“Verdana, Arial”>quote:</font><HR>Actually Lee the recreational fishery represents alot more money than the commercial, from all angles. Cheers, Alec
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Recreational fishermen do not have the lobbying power of commercial fishermen
There is little organization between recreational fishermen and very little money put toward a cause like this.
Micro, when you see the first reports of fish at the west wall, the Thames will be on fire!
