Saving Seafood

Virginia and East coast fishery managers remain vigilant over status of Atlantic striped bass

May 13, 2025 — Virginia fishery managers and others from Maine to North Carolina, as well as members of the public, convened on Tuesday to decide the next steps to protect the future of Atlantic striped bass, a valued and remarkable animal facing consecutive years of low spawning success and an overfished stock.

Atlantic striped bass have been referred to as “everyman’s fish” because they are caught by such a wide population of anglers up and down the coast, said Alex McCrickard, the aquatic education coordinator for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.

Their native range in Virginia spans from the freshwater spawning grounds of inland, tidal rivers like the Rappahannock, York and James to the salty, ocean waters off the Eastern seaboard.

Regulations for Virginia’s coastal, migratory striped bass stock are managed by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission in conjunction with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), who manages interstate fishery regulations for the stock between Maine and North Carolina.

Anglers can utilize a wide range of gear types and techniques to catch striped bass. Some target the fish for the excitement of catch and release, while others seek them out to harvest as a culinary staple.

As a resource, striped bass make up one of the “most valuable recreational fisheries on the Atlantic Coast,” said Emilie Franke, a fishery management plan coordinator for ASMFC. “I think one of the really unique things about it is that the fisheries really vary from state to state.”

“The Chesapeake Bay is as important to the striped bass and its successful life history” as the fish are to the coastal communities and economies of the region, said Allison Colden, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s executive director for Maryland.

Read the full article at Virginia Mercury

MARYLAND: Robert Newberry of the Delmarva Fisheries Association pushes back against new regulations impacting fishermen

April 1, 2025 — The Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission has imposed new regulations on striped bass. The decision came after concerns over below-average striped bass numbers in the Chesapeake Bay.

Robert Newberry, CEO of the Delmarva Fisheries Association, claims the ASMFC unfairly targeted watermen. “We constantly complain to the ASMFC that reducing from our 2 fish on the stripe-bass for charter boats is cutting 50% of our industry right out of the gate.”

The Commission pushed for these implementations because they believed they would restore balance to the bay. Management Plan Coordinator Emilie Franke, said this was the best move to save striped bass.

“Right now, the stock is over-fished, which means it is below our threshold for female spawning stock biomass, which means all the mature females that can spawn and contribute new fish to the stock.”

Read the full article at WMDT

Atlantic Striped Bass Board Initiates Addendum to Consider 2026 Management Measures

December 17, 2024 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board has initiated Draft Addendum III to consider recreational and commercial management measures for 2026 to support rebuilding the stock by 2029. Options will consider a range of reductions for the recreational and commercial fisheries. Recreational reductions will consider season and size limits that take into account regional differences, including no-harvest and no-targeting closures. Final action is planned for no later than October 2025 with implementation in early 2026.

 
“We want to thank the thousands of members of the public who took the time to provide thoughtful comments ahead of this Board meeting,” said Board Chair Megan Ware from Maine. “We understand that many will be disappointed in the Board’s decision to initiate an addendum versus taking immediate action. However, after deliberating for more than three hours about the path forward, the Board came to the conclusion that the best course of action is to proceed with an addendum which will allow for clarity on 2024 removals and additional analyses.”
 
The action responds to the results of the 2024 Stock Assessment Update, which indicates the resource remains overfished but is not experiencing overfishing. Short-term projections estimate an increase in fishing mortality in 2025 due to the above average 2018 year-class entering the current recreational ocean slot limit combined with the lack of strong year-classes behind it. This action is intended to increase the probability of rebuilding the stock by adjusting subsequent 2026 management measures to ensure the stock is on the necessary rebuilding trajectory.


 
At the meeting, the Board considered two possible paths forward. The first was to take immediate Board action to reduce fishing mortality in 2025. The second was a longer, more comprehensive process given one of the primary options being considered is seasonal closures, which represents a new management approach for the Board. Ultimately, the Board chose the second path by initiating an addendum that would provide the Board more time to develop a fuller suite of management options, allow for the incorporation of full 2024 fishery removals data, and afford the public with a more robust opportunity to provide input. The Board noted preliminary data indicate the current measures implemented through Addendum II are on track to reduce 2024 removals from 2023 and 2022 levels. The Board also recognized the importance of the thousands of public comments submitted for this meeting and the upcoming public input through the addendum process on 2026 management measures.

Striped bass harvest restrictions trigger widespread impact

February 27, 2024 — It’s going to be a lean year for those who like to catch or eat Atlantic striped bass — with still leaner times perhaps to come.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which regulates inshore fishing for migratory species, has ordered new curbs, starting May 1, on both recreational and commercial catches of the popular finfish, also known as rockfish in the Chesapeake Bay region.

Amid persistent signs of trouble with the species, the commission’s striped bass management board decided Jan. 24 to limit all anglers in the Chesapeake and its tributaries to landing one striper a day, and only if it’s between 19 inches and 24 inches long. Ocean anglers likewise can keep just one fish a day, but with a narrower legal-size window of 28 to 31 inches.

Maryland and Virginia watermen, meanwhile, face a 7% reduction in their allowed commercial harvest of the fish.

Read the full article at the Bay Journal

Emergency Striper Size Limits Made Permanent

February 8, 2024 — Federal regulators took steps to bring the striped bass population back from the brink last month when the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission voted to approve restrictions on the size of fish recreational fishermen are allowed to keep.

The new regulation makes permanent the emergency actions to protect the striper stock taken by the ASMFC this summer. Recreational fishermen will be restricted to keep one fish a day between 28 and 31 inches during the season.

“We’re putting in rules to control fishing mortality, so we have a shot at keeping this stock healthy,” said Michael Armstrong, the deputy director at the state Department of Marine Fisheries who also serves on the ASMFC.

Now that the commission has approved the regulations, state level departments will be required to put them in place.

The restrictive size limits are meant to protect the class of striped bass spawned in 2015 – the last strong spawning year from the species.

Read the full article at the Vineyard Gazette

VIRGINIA: State study on menhaden in Chesapeake Bay would cost $2.6 million

October 25, 2023 — Following legislation this past session that required the Virginia Institute of Marine Science to determine how long a study on the Atlantic menhaden population in the Chesapeake Bay would take and how much it would cost, the results are in: at least three years and $2.6 million, if everything were done simultaneously.

Recreational anglers who want to limit Omega Protein – the lone reduction fishery that catches the nutrient-rich menhaden for fishmeal and oil – have called for science to show that the company’s hauls are hurting the striped bass population that feeds on menhaden.

The company, at the same time, said their Reedville-based operations provide jobs and there’s no science to show they are hurting menhaden numbers and the greater ecosystem.

The study is the closest step toward information that both sides have sought during the debate on how restrictive Chesapeake Bay menhaden fishing regulations should be.

Read the full article at Virginia Mercury

Striped Bass Survey Shows Juvenile Rockfish Numbers Are Dropping In “Disturbing Trend”

October 17, 2023 — The annual juvenile striped bass survey results are in for Maryland and Virginia, and the news keeps getting worse. This time, it’s not just Maryland where the prized Chesapeake fish appears to be in trouble. Virginia’s count also came in significantly lower this year.

Maryland’s juvenile rockfish numbers had already been sitting well below average for four years. This year, they were the second-lowest they’ve been since 1957—the index sitting at 1.0 compared to a long-term average of 11.3.

Even Virginia, where the survey has been generally much more positive in recent years, saw poor recruitment in 2023. The Commonwealth’s rockfish index was significantly lower, with a mean value of 4.25 fish, well below the average of 7.77.

The results in both states show a recruitment failure, fishery experts say. Recruitment refers to the number of surviving fish that were spawned in the spring. The group of fish hatched this spring will grow to fishable sizes in three to four years, giving a snapshot of the predicted rockfish harvest a few years down the road. The Maryland survey is conducted by Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Virginia survey by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) on behalf of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. This Chesapeake Bay Foundation video shows how the surveys work.

Maryland DNR points to ongoing climate conditions as a cause. “The warm, dry conditions in winter and spring during the past several years have not been conducive to the successful reproduction of fish that migrate to fresh water for spawning,” said DNR’s Fisheries and Boating Director Lynn Fegley.

Read the full article at Chesapeake Bay Magazine

New regulations enacted for striped bass fishing in Northeast states

May 7, 2023 — On Tuesday the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved a new emergency slot size limit for striped bass to be implemented this year of 28 inches to less than 31 inches, one fish/person/day.  Presently we have a 28-35-inch slot size.

“The emergency action was necessary because of last year’s striped bass catch rates which were found to have increased by over 1,000,000 bass from the prior year. This increase caused a significant reduction in probability of the current rebuilding plan as required by law to effectively rebuild the stock.” said Greg Vespe, executive director of the RI Saltwater Anglers Association.

The action requires states to implement the new 31-inch maximum size as soon as possible and no later than July 2, 2023.  At press time Rhode Island nor Massachusetts had announced when the new slot size regulation would be implemented.

Read the full article at The Providence Journal 

Striped Bass Fishery Managers Deliver Cautious Good News

November 9, 2022 — The fishery managers responsible for steering the Atlantic coast’s rockfish population to safe levels announced some positive news—something we haven’t heard lately in relation to rockfish.

On Tuesday the Striped Bass Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) accepted an updated stock assessment by its Technical Committee (TC), which finds the population looks promising enough that no additional harvest cuts will needed to be made. (Different conservationists have, at times, called for a striped bass fishing moratorium).

The bad news first: The stock assessment finds that in 2021, the rockfish stock was still overfished but no longer actively experiencing overfishing.  The female spawning stock biomass was estimated to be 143 million pounds, below the 188-million-pound threshold at which fishery managers must take action. However, ASMFC’s committee notes that the female spawning stock has, at least, been trending modestly upward for the past three years.

Read the full article at Chesapeake Bay Magazine