Striped bass stocks over fished

[Fredrick]

Still not looking good for our striped friends they are still being overfished yet the states and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission only care about the almighty dollar. And its sad that history will be repeating itself and the ASMFC,will fail again in properly managing the fishery.


https://www.onthewater.com/striped-bass-stock-overview

From On the Water:

Striped bass are overfished, the stock is declining, and if regulations aren’t changed, that decline is expected to continue. Those are the preliminary findings from the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment, which was discussed last week at a meeting of the Striped Bass Management Board. (Due to the partial government shutdown, the final assessment was not available for the meeting, however the results are not expected to change with the release of the final assessment.)

Following review, the Board discussed the need for management measures to end overfishing and increase female spawning stock biomass. The Board decided to wait to take management action until it can formally review and approve the final assessment. In the interim, they tasked the Striped Bass Technical Committee to provide additional information on the extent of necessary action and to provide an example recreational bag and size limit combination that would achieve management goals.

The Technical Committee will report back to the Board in May. Changes to striper regulations would most likely be enacted for the 2020 season. In 2015, managers predicted that stricter striped bass regulations would reverse the decline in the stock. However, it now appears that those regulation changes did not achieve the necessary decrease in striper mortality. In fact, they may have contributed to an increase in catch and release mortality (fish that recreational fishermen release which do not survive). Data provided to the board showed that the number of fish that died after being released by recreational anglers in 2017 exceeded the number they actually kept. Massachusetts is already addressing this issue and will be holding public hearings on regulations to reduce striper mortality, such as requiring circle hooks when bait fishing for striped bass

 

[afishinado]

Read the info in the link below. Recreational C&R mortality exceeds the number of fish harvested. The state of Mass is proposing making circle hooks mandatory and outlawing the use of gaffs. Really a tough problem to solve.



https://www.onthewater.com/striped-bass-stock-overview

In 2017, commercial fishermen were responsible for 10% of coastal removals. Recreational fishermen were responsible for the other 90%. That 90% includes 42% that were harvested and 48% that are estimated to have died after being caught and released by recreational fishermen. Based on studies, scientists estimate that about 9% of striped bass caught and released by anglers do not survive.

To put those percentages in numbers, recreational fishermen are estimated to have caught 41.2 million striped bass in 2017. They kept 2.9 million and released 38.2 million. Of those 38.2 million released, it is estimated that 3.4 million did not survive.

 

[Fredrick]

Tom the population has been in decline for years now . C&R mortality rates have always been there .I don't believe that there is this huge boom in striped bass fisherman because the fishing hasn't been that good to promote such a boom. So what can be done to protect the breeders so they can make more babies mandatory C&R during the spawn is a start . More education for proper C&R couldn't hurt anyone a video showing proper C&R should be mandatory for everyone to watch when buying a license/registry . The over harvest of baitfish is a big factor also to striper stocks breeders eat bunker , the first year they reduce the bunker harvest the beaches in NJ were alive with bunker and the fish that feed on them it was great year of fishing now they are slowly bringing back to were it was before the reduction which shows you who controls the ASMFC. Circle hooks with no gaffs would help as well as slot limits so none of the breeders get harvested . Just my two cents....

 

[afishinado]

Fredrick wrote:
Tom the population has been in decline for years now . C&R mortality rates have always been there .I don't believe that there is this huge boom in striped bass fisherman because the fishing hasn't been that good to promote such a boom. So what can be done to protect the breeders so they can make more babies mandatory C&R during the spawn is a start . More education for proper C&R couldn't hurt anyone a video showing proper C&R should be mandatory for everyone to watch when buying a license/registry . The over harvest of baitfish is a big factor also to striper stocks breeders eat bunker , the first year they reduce the bunker harvest the beaches in NJ were alive with bunker and the fish that feed on them it was great year of fishing now they are slowly bringing back to were it was before the reduction which shows you who controls the ASMFC. Circle hooks with no gaffs would help as well as slot limits so none of the breeders get harvested . Just my two cents....

Agreed ^

Many SW anglers continue to blame the commercial fishing for the decline, but anyone can see that 90% of the mortality of stripers is from sport fishing.

If the population decline continues perhaps no harvest rules need to be put forward along with baitfish harvest restrictions.

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

They need to stop these damn 6-pack boats and head boats from keeping full limits of huge breeders, up and down the coast. There are guys there in CT who pull dozens of 60+lb fish per year deep drifting bunker, herring, and eels. NC and VA are a freaking disgrace with their treatment of the fish, and that's not to mention the destruction of the Chesapeake, the James, and the Roanoke River basins where many of these fish reproduce. They need to have a pretty simple limit: 2 fish between 24" and 28", and that's it. Nothing larger. Making circle hooks mandatory probably wouldn't hurt, but what really needs to happen is overall less fishing pressure for a bunch of years. An almost-moratorium. That, and Fred is right about the bunker. We need to keep the bunker safe from the netters so that there will be a food base to help the stripers repopulate. I hardly ever fish stripers any more, largely because the shore fly fishery is a shadow of what it was in 2004.

 

[timmyt]

Ah yes, always the rec fisherman that are issue. It cant be the commercial boats wiping out the stocks, lol

 

[afishinado]

timmyt wrote:
Ah yes, always the rec fisherman that are issue. It cant be the commercial boats wiping out the stocks, lol

No harvest a moratorium for all striper fishing > commercial and sport to bring back the fishery. Sport anglers are a big part of the problem. I agree with Derek, there are boats out there slaughtering fish and killing a lot of fish they don't keep.

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

The number of fish killed commercially pales in contrast to the amount killed recreationally, and the ones being killed recreationally are generally prized for their size, whereas those caught by commercials are generally small to mid-sized fish. One six-pack with four fishermen can do 16 trophy fish per day over the course of three months. Now consider the hundreds of six-pack boats up and down the coast doing this year-round. Compare that the the heavily regulated commercials, and it's obvious why we're in the spot we're in. There are actually fewer commercials now than in the early 2000s when the stock were great. What there are now are far, far more recreational fishermen and social media.

 

[Fredrick]

Id love to see a moratorium it definitely wake some of these charter and party boat captains. I still don't understand why they are not classified under commercial, they are still making a profit from the fish even though they are not selling the fish themselves. The rec angler should be a rec angler nothing is considered recreation when a paid service is involved . At the very least I would like to see moratorium during the spawn or strict slot limits on the breeders for at least 5 years .

 

[poopdeck]

I have a hard time believing recreational anglers are more detrimental then commercial. This theory seems to be based on "estimated" mortality rates of released fish. Sounds like a pretty worthless set of data to me. How they could even begin to estimate this perplexed me so I did a quick google search. Seems they catch fish, cage it, and watch how long it takes to die or not. So the estimate is not catch and release mortality. It's catch, cage and keep mortality rates somehow applied to catch and release.

Where's the study on mortality rates of stripped bass inadvertantly caught and released from nets. I would imagine if your netting bunker your netting a crap ton of game fish that are being grabbed by the gills and ripped out of a net to be haphazardly thrown out the back of the boat.

Just saying. Something smells fishy.

 

[moon1284]

Not too knowledgeable on this but I think there are more stipers than normal in the gulf of st Lawrence (way up north). Salmon guys are claiming they are hurting the Atlantic salmon population in the miramichi but I dont know if that's true or not.

 

[TJones]

Poopdeck, great post... I agree! A ten % mortality rate sounds like skewed data to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for more harvest restrictions and rebuilding stocks though.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Board,

Dispense with your views as a considerate sport fisherman and direct your thoughts towards the googans and meat mean of the sport fishing community.

I'm sure you have all seen some guy rip the guts out of a sunnie to save a 50 cent Eagle Claw snelled hook. Now, think about all the people you ever see fishing down da shore and take the number from NC to ME and think about how many hooks are saved vs. fish that are killed? An 8 inch stiper by catch could have grown to be a 60 pounder, but at least the hook was saved.

Recreational fishermen are a huge part of the problem. The bigger problem is that most recreational fishermen see and judge others by their personal actions, when anyone with a bit of a thought knows that few people act alike.

We are our own worst enemy.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[poopdeck]

Yeah, I'm not for or against additional restrictions because I simply don't know enough about where the restrictions should be placed. With this lack of knowledge I have to rely on common sense and common sense tells me that someone plugging fictional or "estimated" data into computer model would produce an outcome with an error rate near or greater then 10%. Regulating stocks may be a good thing but regulating the wrong thing is pointless and does not benifit anything.

Tim, I'm sorry but I just don't see rampant abuse you describe from the recreational angler. Sure it happens but not at all to the level you describe. Also, what's wrong with eating stripers? Does it make sense to you that I can't catch and eat a striper but it's just fine for a commercial fishermen to catch a striper and sell it to me so I can eat it. In fact he can catch as many as I'm willing to buy but I may be faced with the possibility of not being able to catch and eat one. If that's the case then I say close it down completely. No catching no keeping and no catching a releasing.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear poopdeck,

Do you fish saltwater? I'm not being smart here.

The same people that think nothing of tossing dead sunnies back into the lake also fish saltwater, mostly on vacation and often with their kids.

If you do fish saltwater, you may be coming at it with the eye of a respectable fisherman like I warned about in my post. Obviously everyone that fishes salt on occasion isn't a jerk, but having done it for 40 plus years I can tell you without question that many people are.

Compound that across the Atlantic Coast from NC to ME and then tell me that recreational fishermen don't have a huge effect?

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[poopdeck]

I've been a googan for over 40 years. I surf fish, avail myself to the 6 pack charters and fish the Delaware bay by boat. Over the last five years I have slowed my saltwater roll a bit because I find the jersey shore to be to crowded, to dirty, to expensive and coupled with the limits, just not worth the time and expense.

If you eat fish do you eat fish you catch or just fish you buy? If so please explain way its okay to eat the fish caught by others as opposed to the fish caught by yourself?

Us googans keeping a couple striped bass a couple times a week is not hurting the stock. Perhaps it's those crusty old locals who are keeping their limit everyday. Perhaps it's those crusty old locals who are the ones ripping the guts from fish to save a hook. Applying common sense, I can say the family of 5 from bucks county spending a week in ocean city are not there showing the yougins how to rip a hook out of a bass.

All I'm saying is let's make sure we are regulating the right thing. Let's make sure we are more accurate with our data before acting foolishly. If recreational fishing is to blame then we are all equally to be blamed. These lines of division and segregation as to who is a sportsmen and who is not and which side of the isle needs more regulation is nothing more then the hangman at work. Let's close the season to all recreational anglers for the benifit of the bass, and the commercial dollars.

 

[Mike]

Recreational anglers account for 90% of the striped bass harvest; commercial fishing accounts for 10%. Even if there would be a 10% error, recreational anglers still would dominate the harvest.

Disconcerting is the revelation that now the estimated number of stripers killed by catch and release (using a 10% delayed mortality rate applied to the release numbers) is greater than that taken in the harvest. It is a factor that in my mind needs to be addressed and I hope will be. Requiring circle hook usage for all bait angling might be one avenue, although they are no panacea, and another would be the eliminating live-lining of eels, white perch, live bunker (menhaden) etc.

Given that the American eel population coastwide is in relatively poor shape, terminating eel usage as bait would be beneficial to the eel population as well. One need not use eels as bait in order to have success overall; cut bait, clams, and lures work just fine, thank you very much. I, for one, would not knowingly use representatives from one fish population that is in trouble, and with a live lining technique to boot, to capture members of another fish population that is having some difficulties.

I'll save the discussion of chicken liver usage a bait in nursery waters for another time.

 

[riverwhy]

I don't fish in the ocean much and have never caught a striper. I try to pinch barbs on my lures. Do striper fisherman do this?
Any statistics on #'s and %'s killed Circle vs. Regular Hooks vs. lures vs. flies? What about when each are made barbless?

Seems to me these would be important considerations. Why not mandate circle or barbless if it makes a substantial difference?

 

[troutbert]

moon1284 wrote:
Not too knowledgeable on this but I think there are more stipers than normal in the gulf of st Lawrence (way up north).

Lobster populations are also shifting north.

https://weather.com/science/nature/news/new-england-lobsters-moving-north

 

[afishinado]

troutbert wrote:

moon1284 wrote:
Not too knowledgeable on this but I think there are more stipers than normal in the gulf of st Lawrence (way up north).

Lobster populations are also shifting north.

https://weather.com/science/nature/news/new-england-lobsters-moving-north

Striper populations have also shifted northward according to this article > https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/striped-bass-gulf-of-st-lawrence-population-recovery-1.4613759