September 12, 2025 — If you fish for striped bass, sell bait & tackle, run a for-hire boat, or simply just appreciate the fish, you should do your civic duty and take the drive to the Stafford Township Fire Co. this coming Tuesday (Sept. 16) for the 6 p.m. start to the public hearing on Draft Addendum 7, which aims to reduce the mortality of striped bass by 12%.
One should also prepare themselves by reading the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission 67-page Draft Addendum 7 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass, ahead of time. It is available on the ASMFC’s website.
In a nutshell, the ASMFC has been running up the red flag that striped bass are overfished. It has a 2029 goal of restoring the female spawning stock biomass to 247 million pounds, a benchmark set in 1995, the last time the stock was declared recovered. The spawning stock, according to 2023 data, currently sits at 191 million pounds, which is below the threshold of 197 million pounds — the overfished line.