Saving Seafood

NEW JERSEY: About those striped bass options: ‘They all stink’

September 16, 2019 — One thing is pretty clear after Thursday’s public hearing in Stafford on the striped bass quota cuts and that is someone is not going to be happy when this is all said and done.

If the powers that be elect to make circle hooks mandatory in the bait fishery, then snag and drop fishing the bunker pods with treble hooks is history.

If a 35-inch minimum size limit is chosen, the trophy hunters will be happy but at the expense of many charter and party boat captains.

Carl Sheppard, the skipper of the Star Fish a 40-foot charter boat in Beach Haven, said his customers need to be able to catch at least one fish to take home in order for him to stay in business. He said a 28 to 35-inch fish makes the most sense to him.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

Striped Bass Recovery Debate Divides Fishermen

September 10, 2019 — A roiling debate over how to reduce the annual harvest of striped bass along the Atlantic Seaboard to allow the species to recover from years of overfishing has pitted various fishermen against each other and sparked heated exchanges in online venues — and, last week, in a public hearing with federal fisheries managers.

Hundreds packed into a meeting room at Bethpage State Park last week to offer their views on a battery of options that marine biologists have laid out; they say each would reduce the number of dead striped bass — one of the nation’s most economically important fish stocks — by up to 18 percent per year. The goal is to help the stock recover to what scientists say are necessary levels by 2023.

The battle over how to proceed has focused primarily on what restrictions should be placed on recreational fishermen, who account for about 90 percent of the striped bass harvest, though the extent to which commercial fishermen should share in the cuts also is on the table.

Read the full story at 27East

Proposed striped bass regulations draw mixed reaction

September 9, 2019 — On Aug. 29, I attended the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission striped bass public hearing in Dover. It began at 6 p.m. and by my count there were 13 members of the public in attendance.

The representative from ASMFC presented a summary as to why further restrictions were required on striped bass. This is due to the fact that the spawning stock biomass (large females) has fallen below the level that the scientists believe is needed to sustain the stock. Also, the entire striped bass population is overfished and overfishing is occurring. Therefore, action must be taken to stop the overfishing and restore the striped bass spawning stock biomass in the shortest amount of time.

Three options were presented for public comment. Option 1: Status quo. Take no action and keep the current regulations in place. Option 2: Place an 18 percent reduction on the commercial quota and an 18 percent reduction on the recreational catch. Option 3: Place a 1.8 percent reduction on the commercial quota and a 20 percent reduction on the recreational catch.

Read the full story at the Cape Gazette

Striped bass hearings draw few fishermen in N.J.

September 6, 2019 — About 40 people combined showed up for the first two public hearings on Draft Addendum VI to a fishery management plan, a measure that’s calling for an 18 percent reduction in the coastwide striped bass harvest.

The first hearing on Tuesday in Roselle Park had only eight people. Tom Fote, one of three New Jersey commissioners to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, or ASMFC, said they counted 30 people at Wednesday’s hearing in Ocean City.

While these draft hearings are going on up and down the Atlantic seaboard from North Carolina to Maine, New Jersey fishermen only have one more crack at speaking their piece on the issue in person.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

New cuts coming to striped bass fishing

September 5, 2019 — At a sometimes contentious public hearing in Farmingdale Wednesday night, more than 200 anglers, boat captains and fishing club members weighed in on options for reducing the recreational and commercial harvest of striped bass by up to 18 percent, compared with 2017.

The measures, which will take effect with the 2020 season, are detailed in an August report by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the interstate body that regulates the fishery.

Measures under consideration include mandating the use of circle hooks that cause less damage to fish, new size restrictions on fish and a shortened recreational season, which now runs from April 15 through December 15, according to the report.

The proposals, which come as the striped bass season kicks into high gear, are part of an effort by fisheries regulators to prop up a stock they say is overfished.

Read the full story at Newsday

Changes are ahead for striped bass

September 4, 2019 — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission met last month to hash out the details of Addendum VI, which addresses the current overfishing of striped bass and will implement new regulations taking effect in 2020.

Don’t expect this new management plan to solve all our problems or even to ameliorate them quickly. The newest management plan has a 50/50 probability of meeting the target in 2020. If all goes according to plan, female spawning stock should reach 93% of the target by 2027.

ASMFC won’t be discussing a possible amendment until February 2020.

A Coastal Conservation Association statewide campaign called “My Limit is One” in 2014 and ASMFC-imposed reductions back in 2015 (following a quota increase in 2014) did nothing to stem the overharvest of striped bass.

Read the full story at the Maryland Independent

NEW LOCATION: States Schedule Public Hearings on Atlantic Striped Bass Draft Addendum VI (Change in Location of NY’s September 4th hearing)

August 30, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board releases Draft Addendum VI to Amendment 6 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass for public comment. Atlantic coastal states from Maine through North Carolina, including Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission, have scheduled their hearings to gather public input on Draft Addendum VI. The details of those hearings follow. Massachusetts is still scheduling its hearings; a subsequent release will announce the details of those hearings once they are finalized.

Read the full release

Virginia anglers angry over new catch limits on striped bass, say tournaments are in jeopardy

August 28, 2019 — Anglers will be allowed to keep just one striped bass instead of two a day in the upcoming season, state fisheries officials decided Tuesday.

The move is meant to protect the species by keeping large breeding fish in the water, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission said in a statement. But it could squash the charter fishing industry and a popular fall tournament scene that relied on big fish.

“It kills it,” said Mike Standing, who has run the Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout for more than a decade. “It kills it all. We’ve been telling them for 10 years that there has been a problem with the population and they kept saying there wasn’t. Now they shut down the spring season and essentially shut down the fall.

“This is highly disappointing.”

Read the full story at The Virginia-Pilot

Commission eyes restrictions on striped bass harvest

August 27, 2019 — Officials with a regional fisheries management group are holding a public hearing in Delaware this week on a proposal to restrict the harvest of striped bass along the Atlantic coast.

Thursday’s meeting in Dover concerns proposed changes to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s management plan for striped bass, also known as rockfish.

The addendum to the plan proposes to reduce fishing-related mortality by 18% in response to an assessment last year that indicated that the population was overfished.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Post

States Schedule Public Hearings on Atlantic Striped Bass Draft Addendum VI

August 21, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board releases Draft Addendum VI to Amendment 6 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass for public comment. Atlantic coastal states from Maine through North Carolina, including Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission, have scheduled their hearings to gather public input on Draft Addendum VI. The details of those hearings follow. Massachusetts is still scheduling its hearings; a subsequent release will announce the details of those hearings once they are finalized.

Read the full release here