Striped Bass Commercial Harvest Increase Denied by ASMFC

[Joe D]

Conservationists praise ASMFC decision on striped bass

Written by Ted Venker on 09 November 2010

Managers reject proposal to increase commercial harvest

CHARLESTON, SC – After months of intense debate, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) announced today that it has denied a proposal to increase the commercial harvest of striped bass by up to 50 percent. Public sentiment has run intensely against the proposal from the moment it was introduced last February, as recreational anglers up and down the East Coast flooded their ASMFC representatives with calls to deny the proposal.


“This is a great day for conservation,” said Richen Brame, CCA Atlantic States Fisheries director. “Managers were very much in danger of increasing mortality at a time when the stock is declining, but they took the conservative approach in light of all the uncertainty surrounding the stock today. They should be commended for refusing to take a path that could have ended in disaster.”


Last February, conservationists were stunned when the ASMFC Striped Bass Management Board chose to ignore a host of significant concerns from scientists and enforcement officers about the health of the striped bass population, and instead directed its staff to draft a proposal to increase commercial harvest. Anglers who remembered the dark years of the ‘70s were alarmed that managers were attempting to ramp up commercial harvest even as anglers were seeing serious warning signs on the water.


“CCA members, particularly in Maine and New Hampshire, have said repeatedly they are not seeing striped bass in the abundance seen just a few years ago,” said Mac McKeever, president of CCA Maine. “Anglers in the northern reaches of the striped bass range are the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to the health of the striped bass population, and anglers here are not encountering anywhere near as many fish as they did just a few years ago. There is definitely reason to be concerned.”


Other warning signs pointing to a need for managers to take a cautious approach include declining trends in the striped bass Juvenile Abundance Index, “significant and unreported” poaching in the Exclusive Economic Zone, and the potentially devastating impact of Mycobacteriosis in Chesapeake Bay, the primary striped bass spawning ground for the entire Atlantic Coast. Seventy percent of the fish sampled there had lesions associated with the disease and in aquaculture, Mycobacteriosis infections are virtually always fatal.


“Our members were especially motivated to contact their representatives on the ASMFC throughout this process and let them know this is no time to be talking about increasing harvest of striped bass,” said Charles A. Witek, chairman of CCA Atlantic Fisheries Committee. “The problems facing striped bass today are far more complex than simple overfishing. Managers did the right thing by taking a precautionary approach to management. Striped bass are the crown jewel of ASMFC’s management successes and should be treated as such.”

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CCA is the largest marine resource conservation group of its kind in the nation. With almost 100,000 members in 17 state chapters, CCA has been active in state, national and international fisheries management issues since 1977. Visit www.JoinCCA.org for more information

 

[trico mike]

A Good start but there is much more work that needs to be done to protect these fish. First and foremost is to decrease the recreational harvest by setting much stricter limits. The number of fish killed by non comercial fishermen is stagering. I was reading a old article from 2005 and it had the numbers that were harvested. Really sad. They were talking about big trouble on the horizon back then 5 years later things are only getting worse. If I can dig up the magazine I will put up the numbers. That being said the fishing has been good this fall. Have had several good nights on the beach and there are still alot of big fish inside if you Know were to look.

 

[Joe D]

Mike,

As I'm sure you're aware, in some states, even though they no longer have a commercial fishery, the state took the commercial harvest quota and shifted it to recreational anglers. In essence this did little or nothing to reduce the harvest. Allowing a catch & kill season immediately prior to and during spawning is something else that defies logic. Big, egg laden bass are the targets, killed along with their thousands of eggs.

 

[Trouser Trout]

It would be interesting to know what the impacts of recreational harvesting are. My belief is it is minimal as compaired to commercial harvesting and has little to no effect on the striper population, especially with how the existing regulations are. Most fisherman I know keep less than the regulations allow.

 

[Broadheadscreek]

I hope that this all comes together Joe as this fishery is on it's way out other wise. Also on Mikes topic they do need stricter limits for the recreational fisherman and more policing as some as we know do not play by the rules. TT you would be shocked to find out that the recreational fisherman put a huge dent in the striped bass population each and every year despite the regulations. The worst is not only do they take their limit but also take egg laden hens before they have a chance to spawn which further helps to decimate the population . We need to protect the prespawn fish better to save this fishery and give it a chance to survive.......

 

[Rusty Spinner]

Commercial harvest increase was voted down - thank God - by a margin of 10-4. Good news for a change!

 

[jamiep]

Thank god too many fish being killed every minute of everyday. Its sad to say but the fishery is and has been on a downward spiral . This is the first step of many more needed to right the wrong imo.

 

[Joe D]

It would be interesting to know what the impacts of recreational harvesting are. My belief is it is minimal as compaired to commercial harvesting and has little to no effect on the striper population, especially with how the existing regulations are. Most fisherman I know keep less than the regulations allow.

Studies show the recreational harvest is actually higher than the commercial harvest. Like you, most of the anglers I know seldom keep a fish. Fortunately, we hang around with a better crowd. Unfortunately, there are far too many bass killed by recreational anglers belonging to the other group, with the target being big females.

 

[Broadheadscreek]

What Joe say's is true, you should see the massacre on party boats when it's on and these guy's get bonus tags as well for a couple of bucks.. I know of more than a hand full of guys out hitting the surf that keep their limit every night they go . It doesn't seem like much but when you times that by the thousands that flock to the beaches and bays every night and do this it adds up much to quickly...

 

[Trouser Trout]

Studies show the recreational harvest is actually higher than the commercial harvest. Like you, most of the anglers I know seldom keep a fish. Fortunately, we hang around with a better crowd. Unfortunately, there are far too many bass killed by recreational anglers belonging to the other group, with the target being big females.

I've targeted a few big females in my youth, they were kind of like mopeds....fun to ride, but you don't want your friends to see you on them....

 

[Rusty Spinner]

Here's a great email from Stripers Forever. I highly recommend you join - they are free!

[SIZE=+1]Stripers Forever[/SIZE][SIZE=+0] [/SIZE][SIZE=+0]members – the press release below from the ASMFC gives some insight into the organization’s collective mindset. While the release acknowledges that the recreational catch of striped bass has declined 66% in the last 3 years, and that the population of striped bass has decreased by 25%, the remainder of the release reflects the commercial bias that the ASMFC is known for. Mr. Travelstead claims the recreational sector takes 70% of the striped bass harvest, and it is clear that he thinks that is unfair. (The 2009 recreational percentage of the take was actually 60% and the 2010 number will be right around 50%.) The recreational sector is, in reality, the public fishing for their own personal use; they represent over 99% of the participants in the fishery, and they average less than one striped bass per angler per year as harvest. Current high size-limits have made it nearly impossible for most coastal anglers to ever catch a striped bass that they can keep to eat. This is just plain wrong. The collective right of more than 3,000,000 private citizens to catch fish for personal consumption is in no way comparable to that of a relative handful of individuals who choose to make part of their living by killing large quantities of these fish to sell for profit. A number of socio-economic studies have shown that striped bass are worth several times more per pound when taken by the recreational sector than when taken commercially. Instead of posturing to increase the commercial quota of striped bass, the ASMFC should be ending the commercial fishery for this species and maximizing the fish’s value to society. [/SIZE]​

[SIZE=+0]. [/SIZE]​

[SIZE=+0]For those who wonder what good it would do to make striped bass a game fish, think of this. If we just eliminated commercial striped bass fishing we would eliminate 50% of the fishing mortality for striped bass….we would cut it in half! How big a conservation measure is that! [/SIZE]​

[SIZE=+0]Stripers Forever doesn’t disagree that the recreational catch should also be reduced. But don’t be misled. It was the commercial fishery supporting ASMFC state directors who set the recreational bag limits of two 28 inch fish per day. We didn’t want it and we still don’t. It was done to provide cover for a constantly increasing commercial fishing quota on striped bass, and today’s falling striped bass population is where it’s taken us. [/SIZE]​

[SIZE=+0]Some members of the recreational fishing public believe that we must share this resource between commercial and personal use fishers. They are well meaning but they are dead wrong! There are simply too many people and too few striped bass. As we’ve done before with many of our wild resources, it is time to manage this fishery with a carefully regulated, personal-use only harvest, with low mortality fishing techniques and with a very risk averse target of allowable fishing mortality. This can never happen while commercial fishing interests must be considered. [/SIZE]​

[SIZE=+0]Left to their own devices, the commercially oriented fishery managers will continue to split the harvest between commercial and recreational users, always with a bias favoring the commercial demand for a larger harvest and a bigger piece of it for themselves. In complete disregard of official quotas, a significant number of commercial fishermen will continue to catch and sell stripers illegally, and fishery managers will continue to ignore this well known activity, making no allowance for its impact. When a fish population is declining the managers are reluctant to reduce the harvest; when (and if) there seems to be an upturn, the harvest will be increased. The end result of all this is what we see today in fishery after fishery: lousy fishing and poor socio-economic returns from those fishery resources. [/SIZE]​

[SIZE=+0]Designating striped bass - this one critical species for saltwater recreational fishing on the East Coast – as a game fish, thus setting them aside and managing them for personal-use only angling, is the only way to ensure stripers don’t meet this fate.[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=+0]ASMFC Press Release[/SIZE]​

[SIZE=+0]"After lengthy deliberation, the sense of the Board was that recent fishery trends do not warrant an increase in fishing mortality, commercial or recreational, at this time," said Board Chair, Jack Travelstead. "The Board also accelerated the assessment schedule, requesting an update assessment in 2011 prior to the next benchmark assessment in 2013 to more closely track changes in the fishery and the resource." [/SIZE]​

[SIZE=+0]The proposal to increase the coastal commercial quota was intended to bring more parity between the commercial and recreational fishery sectors. Although Amendment 6 established management programs for both fisheries based on the same target fishing mortality rate, the coastal commercial fisheries are controlled by quotas whereas the coastal recreational fisheries are managed through possession and size limits. As a result, the recreational harvest has increased with expanding striped bass population levels, and now accounts for approximately 70 percent of total harvest. The Management Board opted to maintain the existing coastal commercial quotas for several reasons, including a 66 percent decline in estimated recreational catch from 2006 to 2009; a 25 percent decline in estimated striped bass abundance from 2004 to 2008; and several years of below-average production of fish from the Chesapeake Bay. The 2011 assessment update will help to indicate whether these trends are short- or long-term, and if corrective action is necessary to maintain the spawning stock biomass above the target level.[/SIZE]​

 

[emoussa]

The daily limit should be dropped to only 1 per day like in NY. There should be a uniform set of regulations on migratory fish that is the same in all states.

 

[Joe D]

The last regs I know of in NY allows anglers to keep two stripers over 28" if they are on a party or charter boat. Other anglers can keep one between 28 and 40" and one greater than 40". The Hudson above the GW Bridge allows one fish over 18". It could have changed mid-season.

NY also has a commercial striped bass fishery with fish between 24" and 36" being legal. I don't think they are issuing any new permits and the ones out there were issued only to people who made 50% or more of their income from commercial fishing, so it's not a true free for all per se, but it still is a relatively big harvest. Personally, I don't see NY as being a model to follow.

All in all, like many wild fish, fowl and animals, harvest is just one piece of the puzzle and one we can see and immediately act on that could yield noticeable results in the near term. But, I think it's important we look at the rest of the components too. Other things that factor in are habitat for spawning, wintering and feeding or forage base. Restoring and protecting these things could make as big or bigger difference than reducing limits. Just my opinion...

 

[hookjaw]

In recent years the boating and surf anglers have been doing a job on the big females. With the more recent return of large quantities of adult bunker in the springtime comes the snag and drop method of striper fishing. ( if it can be called fishing ). Snag a bunker let it drop to the bottom and wait for fish in the 20- 40 lb range inhale it. No experience necessary. The amount of big female spawners being taken at this time of year is ridiculous. They should put a slot limit in place in the spring that would counter this dilema. Maybe from april - june 1 fish between 28" and 36" all other fish returned at least for a few years and see if this can help the population out a little. By the way ,this year iam not seeing many small fish caught at all. Normally there are quite a few smaller fish mixed in with the larger fish. This does not bode well for the next 2 or 3 years . Where are the small fish that will be bigger in those next couple of years? This year the ratio for keeper bass has been far greater than i have ever seen. In years past i might catch 1 or 2 keepers off the beach if iam lucky and the rest would be shorts. This year the keeper ratio is better than 50%. Iam not complaining about it in one sense but in the sense that once these fish are gone where is the next generation of fish that will sustain the fishery?