Saving Seafood

An average year for juvenile rockfish in Virginia waters in 2025

October 20, 2025 — Preliminary results from an ongoing long-term survey conducted by researchers at William & Mary’s Batten School & VIMS suggest that an average year class of young-of-year rockfish, or striped bass, was produced in the Virginia tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay in 2025. The 2025 year class, representing fish hatched this spring, will reach fishable sizes in three to four years.

The Batten School & VIMS Juvenile Striped Bass Seine Survey recorded a mean value of 5.12 fish per seine haul in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay. The 2025 value is similar to the historic average of 7.77 fish per seine haul and represents an improvement over the previous two years of below-average recruitment in Virginia tributaries.

Rockfish are an important top predator in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and a valuable resource for commercial and recreational anglers. Mary Fabrizio, a professor at the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences & VIMS, directs the Juvenile Striped Bass Seine Survey and notes that the economic and ecological values of rockfish lend significant interest to the year-to-year status of their population.

Read the full article at Shore Daily News

More Rockfish Catch Reductions? Public Hearings to be Held in MD, VA

September 9, 2025 — East Coast fishery managers are seeking public feedback this month on options for cutting the catch of Atlantic striped bass to help rebuild its depleted population. There are in-person and virtual hearings planned for Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. as well.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which represents state fishery managers from along the coast as well as federal agencies, voted in August to proceed with a plan to impose a 12% reduction in 2026 on both the recreational and commercial catch of the prized species.

If finalized later this year, the plan would trim the commercial harvest quota by that amount. To curb recreational catch, it would require East Coast states to shorten their striped bass fishing season or adjust the size limits for legally catchable fish.

Read the full article at the Bay Journal

NOAA Fisheries embracing eDNA tool for rockfish management

August 26, 2025 — NOAA Fisheries has developed an improved environmental DNA (eDNA) tool that will enable scientists to better understand rockfish species and could inform management of the U.S. commercial fishery.

Environmental DNA tools test for genetic material in collected water samples, allowing scientists to detect the presence of various animals. NOAA Fisheries has worked to adopt eDNA tools to help improve its species management, especially with fish that are difficult or cost prohibitive to track otherwise. Rockfish, for instance, live in rocky areas that are not conducive to trawling and are not distributed evenly. By using eDNA, scientists can get a better picture of where rockfish are present in a body of water.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ASMFC leaves rockfish regulations unchanged

December 27, 2024 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board has left rockfish regulations unchanged.

The decision responds to the 2024 Stock Assessment Update, which indicates that while the resource remains overfished, it is not currently experiencing overfishing. 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. To address these concerns, the Board plans to explore a range of reductions for both recreational and commercial fisheries, including adjustments to season and size limits that account for regional differences, as well as potential no-harvest and no-targeting closures.

“We understand that many will be disappointed in the Board’s decision to initiate an addendum versus taking immediate action,” said Board Chair Megan Ware from Maine. “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.”

Read the full article at Shore Daily News

MARYLAND: Striped Bass Fishing Season in Maryland Kicks Off Amidst Controversy Over New Regulations

May 19, 2024 — On the opening day of striped bass fishing in Maryland, recreational anglers and charter boats ventured out onto the Chesapeake Bay, but not all were enthusiastic about the start of the season. New regulations set by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) aimed at bolstering the struggling rockfish population in the Chesapeake have left some captains and guests apprehensive.

Charter boat captains, such as John Motovidlak, voiced concerns about the impact of the regulations on their business. “I’m gonna say I’m between 30 and 40 percent short on my bookings,” Motovidlak lamented.

Under the ASMFC’s new rules, only one fish within the 19 to 24-inch slot size is allowed to be kept, with larger fish over 25 inches designated as breeders. Some charter guests expressed frustration, deeming the regulations overly restrictive and detrimental to the industry.

Read the full article at WBOC

MARYLAND: Rockfish Season In Limbo As Atlantic Commission Rejects MD, Potomac Management Plans

April 1, 2024 — All fishing for striped bass in Maryland, Pennsylvania and the Potomac River could face a shutdown, unless fisheries managers in Atlantic coast states can resolve issues over how to meet new catch limits.

After an at-times testy debate, the striped bass management board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted March 26 to reject plans by Maryland and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission over how they would meet required commercial catch reductions. It also rejected Pennsylvania’s plan because it sought to delay imposition of  mandated recreational catch limits.

The Atlantic states commission, which regulates inshore fishing for migratory species, voted in January to tighten both recreational and commercial catches of the fish commonly known in the Chesapeake Bay region as rockfish. They did so in response to a worrisome spike in the recreational catch along the coast in 2022, along with a five-year stretch of poor reproduction of the fish in the Bay, their primary spawning and nursery grounds.

Under rules scheduled to take effect May 1, recreational anglers will be limited to just one fish per day within narrow minimum and maximum size limits. Commercial fishers face a 7% reduction in their annual quota.

The cutbacks are particularly controversial in Maryland, where on March 8 groups representing commercial watermen and charter fishing businesses filed a federal lawsuit challenging their legality. The case is pending.

At its March 26 meeting, the striped bass board approved all but three (Maryland, Potomac River, Pennsylvania) of the affected East Coast jurisdictions’ plans for tightening catch rules.’

Read the full article at Chesapeake Bay Magazine

ALASKA: Southeast Alaska yelloweye rockfish fishery remains shuttered in 2024

February 1, 2024 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced this month that fishing for yelloweye rockfish is again prohibited in Southeast Alaska this year. Yelloweye are a popular species of rockfish but their populations declined significantly in recent decades, which has Fish and Game biologists concerned.

There are seven species of demersal shelf rockfish (DSR) lurking in the depths of Southeast Alaska – quillback, China, rosethorn, copper, canary, tiger rockfish, and yelloweye. According to Fish & Game, all of them have experienced population decline in recent years but yelloweye are the most populous and perhaps the most popular.

The Fish & Game announcement earlier this month isn’t a change – the commercial fishery in southern Southeast Alaska for demersal shelf rockfish closed in 2020. The fishery in the northern part of the region shuttered in 1995. In the intervening years, the Board of Fish has added restrictions to sport and recreational fishers as well.

All DSR species are still fair game for Southeast subsistence fishers. Nonresidents fishing in any capacity are banned from retaining any demersal shelf rockfish.

New harvest regulations are looser than in previous years. In 2021, retaining any DSR was illegal for a recreational fisherman. This year, Ketchikan residents can take home up to three rockfish, as long as none are yelloweyes.

“We support regulations,” said Chris Baldwin, who has run a charter fishing boat for over a decade. “If Fish & Game thinks that they’re declining, then they need to be protected. That’s kind of my take on the closure.”

Read the full article at KRBD

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

Genes Reveal How Some Rockfish Live Up to 200 Years

November 12, 2021 — Few groups of animals encapsulate the extremes of longevity more than fish. While coral reef pygmy govies survive for less than ten weeks, Greenland sharks can endure more than 500 years. So when a team of biologists at the University of California, Berkeley, wanted to explore the genetics of aging, they grabbed their fishing gear.

Their preferred catch was rockfish. Found in coastal waters from California to Japan, rockfish are a colorful group of more than 120 species in the genus Sebastes. Some of these closely related species live for only a decade. Others, such as the rougheye rockfish, can live for more than 200 years.

Read the full story at Scientific American

 

Fishery managers set deadline on rockfish rebuild

October 27, 2021 — At its 2021 Annual Meeting last week, the Atlantic Striped Bass Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) took a positive step toward rebuilding our beloved rockfish stock from its currently depleted condition.

The move came in response to news from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MD DNR) that its 2021 Juvenile Striped Bass Index was 3.2, well below the annual average of 11.4 for the third consecutive year. In fact, it
has been below average for ten of the past 16 years. Virginia’s index of 6.30 was closer to, but still below, its long-term average of 7.77.

Concern about rockfish has been building for at least five years, and ASMFC’s Striped Bass Board initiated development of a new amendment (number 7, but the first since 2003) to the fishery management plan last winter. The Board’s May meeting sketched out six priorities for the Commission’s Plan Development Team to build into the amendment. The team submitted its draft for Board approval at last week’s meeting.

Read the full story at Chesapeake Bay Magazine