Saving Seafood

A beloved New Jersey fish is in big trouble. What’s next for striper fishing?

October 28, 2019 — Paul Haertel has been reeling in striped bass — stripers, as they’re better known — along the Jersey Shore since he was a teen.

The 64-year-old angler from Barnegat lives for a good trophy fish; he’s even mounted two of his largest catches on his wall: one a 50-pounder he caught off Barnegat Inlet in 2003, the other he nabbed in 2011 during a thunderstorm, while chasing bunker fish off the Shore.

“I don’t want a replica of somebody else’s fish hanging on my wall — I want my fish” Haertel said.

Haertel’s sense of striper pride echoes throughout the state: when the bass migrate north in the spring and when they head south in the fall, pictures of monster fish are shared by proud anglers across social media. Stripers are a key component of in New Jersey’s multi-billion dollar fishing industry, too, as charter boats up and down the Shore make their living bringing striper-seekers out into open saltwater.

But trouble now looms amid the churning waves.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, an agency formed by 15 states that manages the fishing of multiple species swimming along the East Coast, announced in May that striped bass are being overfished.

Read the full story at NJ.com

Overfishing of Atlantic Striped Bass Prompts Action

October 7, 2019 — A new assessment has revealed that striped bass off the Atlantic Coast are being depleted faster than they can replenish, and have been since 2013.

In response, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in August issued a collection of possible management options for recreational and commercial fishing, with the goal of reducing the rate of Atlantic striped bass killed by fishing to 18 percent less than the 2017 rate by 2020.

This isn’t the first time striped bass have stared the Grim Reaper in his piscine eyes. Back in the 1980s, the population of striped bass that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission manages — which ply the coastal waters between North Carolina and Maine in search of menhaden, a type of herring — declined so drastically that the commission called a complete moratorium on striped bass fishing.

It worked. By 1995, the population had climbed to record levels. That year 540,000 fish were caught commercially, a sharp increase from the 272,000 caught in 1983. A New York Times article from June of that year jubilantly announced the fish’s “comeback.” With the population restored, restrictions were lifted, and the fish’s numbers remained relatively stable.

Read the full story at ecoRI

VIRGINIA: Decision to continue striped bass tournament is “huge.” The fish won’t be.

September 27, 2019 — Despite regulations that will take big fish out of the equation, the founder of the Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout has decided to press on.

The 17th annual event will take place Dec. 5-7. Teams can depart from any Virginia port, but weigh-ins are held at King’s Creek Marina in Cape Charles on the lower Eastern Shore.

This week the Virginia Marine Resources Commission lowered the recreational take of striper from two fish to one. And instead of allowing trophy-sized fish to be caught, rockfish will now have to measure between 20 and 36 inches length.

That means all the top catches will be nearly the same size. The tournament will have to rely on scales that measure to one-hundreth of a pound to judge the winning fish.

Mike Standing, who started the shootout in Virginia Beach but moved it to Cape Charles a few years ago, said continuing his event is about more than competitive fishing.

Read the full story at The Virginian-Pilot

August/September Issue of ASMFC Fisheries Focus Now Available

September 23, 2019 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

August/September 2019 issue of ASMFC Fisheries Focus is now available here

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

ASMFC 78th Annual Meeting Preliminary Agenda
page 1

Upcoming Meetings

page 2

From the Executive Director’s Desk
ACCSP: Transitions in Leadership
page 3

Species Profile
Summer Flounder
page 4

Fishery Management Actions
Atlantic Cobia
Atlantic Menhaden
page 8

Proposed Management Actions
Atlantic Striped Bass
Spiny Dogfish
page 9

Science Highlight
Where Have All the Weakfish Gone?
page 10

SAFIS eTRIPS/mobile Migrates to Version 2
page 11

In Memoriam
Joseph Desfosse
page 14

Past issues of Fisheries Focus can be found at http://www.asmfc.org/search/%20/%20/Fishery-Focus

NEW YORK: Changes on the horizon to reduce striped bass fishing mortality

September 20, 2019 — The Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board of the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has issued proposed changes to Amendment 6 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic striped bass.

The proposed changes — formally flagged as Addendum VI — were the subject of  comments at a public hearing Sept. 12 in New Paltz, at the Region 3 Headquarters of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

While the abundance of striped bass is declining along the entire Atlantic Coast, according to ASMFC studies, most of the people attending the hearing were honed in on what the changes would mean to the Hudson River’s striped bass fishery.

Read the full story at the Poughkeepsie Journal

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