Saving Seafood

Gender-bending fish under Rutgers microscope

July 7, 2015 — We’ll say this for the sea bass: It’s sure good at keeping its options open.

If it surveys the mating landscape and fails to see enough prospects, it simply switches gender.

Problem solved.

This ability bodes well for New Jersey’s commercial and recreational fishing industry, for it offers natural protection from over-fishing, says one Rutgers researcher.

A fish may begin life as a female, only to switch to male if that looks like it will improve its chances of reproduction. Smaller males, called “sneaker males,” may impersonate females so they can fertilize eggs on the sly without attracting hostile attention from other males.

“The relative benefit of being male or female changes throughout their lives,” said Olaf Jensen of Rutgers’ department of marine and coastal science.

But until lately, no one has really known how often sea bass switch genders, or when that switch typically takes place.

And why should anyone but a marine biologist care?

Because without understanding what’s happening, state fishing bureaucrats have no firm idea on how to set catch limits for the fishing industry.

Read the full story at NJ.com

Changes likely in striped bass limits

September 18, 2014 — While absolutely nothing is certain when it comes to fishery management, it does seem fairly likely that a reduction in the catch limit for striped bass is coming in 2015.

The current limit for striped bass is two fish at 28 inches and it looks like it's heading for one fish at a still undetermined size.

The ASMFC is holding a series of meetings to ask for public comment on Draft Addendum IV to the Atlantic Striped Bass Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Striped Bass which aims to set new biological reference points for the stock.

The reason behind the new amendment is that the 2013 benchmark stock assessment showed that, while the stock was not overfished and overfishing was not occurring, fishing mortality (F) was on the increase and the spawning stock biomass (SSB), was decreasing. Obviously, if a stock is dying faster than it can be replaced, the outcome will never be good.

So even though the stock is not being overfished, projections show that the SSB will likely fall below its threshold in coming years. As a result the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission elected to initiate an addendum to address the situation. The fishery management plan is designed so that if these threshold numbers are approached, something has to be done to address the problem

Another reason for the addendum was that fishery managers saw too many similarities in the current striped bass situation to the one that preceded the crash of the stock in the 1980s, which led to a moratorium on the fishery. Few wanted to see a repeat of that bit of history.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press