Status of the striped bass stocks?

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DaleH

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My brother is traveling this week and sent me this by email. He didn’t quote the source, but I’d bet $$ he brought On the Water and Saltwater Sportsman ​magazines ​with him on the plane ​ ​
​and read it in one or both of them.

Not good info regardless …​

Here are some more facts from various organizations:

*NOAA reports that from 2006-2011 recreational catches of striped bass in MA have plummeted 85%

*Stripers Forever reports a decline of 90% in coast wide recreational catches since 2006 (note very similar to NOAA numbers)

*In the last 6-years there has only been one good spawning year in the Chesapeake (Young of Year Index) and that was in 2011. That probably explains all those 12-18 inch schoolies that were around in the spring.

*Recent articles in both the New York Times and Boston Globe cited a dramatic decline in striper numbers over the last 3-6 years. They have called for new, strict conservation measures to protect the billion dollar striped bass industry.
 
I recall as a kid in the 70's on Buzzards Bay a real absence of Stripers. matter of fact I caught nothing but blufish until about 1980. after that Stripers came back like gangbusters. I wonder if there's just a cycle the species goes through. i know the water quality is certanily better now with all the regs. and effort in place to do so.
 
*size limit dropped to 28" and 2 fish a day for MA, no slot limit, only big bass breed in strong number.
*millions of commercial and recreational fishing for one,1, species of fish, the striped bass.
*5+ years ago, great concern of of protein harvesters vacuuming up all the herring and pogies and continues
*mid water trawlers this year went over limits by 60% of atlantic herring, the by catch is also large ocean migrating Stripers.
*illegal gill nets take 3 million of pounds of Bass in chesapeak bay area , 3years ago

the list goes on….

Take away any species 1) food source, 2)take out the big breeders, 3)over target the current flock and you end up with what we have today.
 
Poge is dead on. At least the menhaden harvesting seems to be under stricter control now.

It still just frosts me whenever I see a recreational fisherman keeping ANY striper over 32" as those are nearly 100% breeding females.

And the commercial season needs to go away...

My $.02
 
Some good observations here. Let me add mine, since I'm local to the Chesapeake.

1. The Chesapeake Bay is the spawning ground for these fish. This estuary is where the majority of these fish come from.

2. There are only two entrances into the Chesapeake from the Atlantic Ocean - at the mouth of the Bay in Virginia at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT), and in the north via the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

3. The C&D Canal is a minor player in the movement of the Rockfish. It is a sea level canal for shipping traffic connecting the Chesapeake Bay with the Delaware Bay and is only 250' wide. Some fish transit the C&D from the Ocean, but it is a small amount.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake ... ware_Canal

4. The primary food in the Chesapeake for the Rockfish is the Menhaden . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menhaden

5. Commercial purse sein fishing for the Menhaden is not allowed in Maryland waters (though pound nets are everywhere), but it is permitted in Virginia waters and it is done with a vengeance by Omega Protein based in Reedville VA. Omega Protein uses their 'factory ships', spotter planes, and purse seine nets to locate, encircle, trap, then vacuum the fish into holding tanks for processing back in Reedville. Now... since the Alewife is forage to a number of species including the Rockfish, Speckled Trout, Bluefish, and many others, when the Omega boats haul in their catch they also take in large amounts of "by-catch". Yes, the catch limit for Menhaden was recently reduced. Thing is, the limit is so high Omega hasn't caught their limit in years. That 'limit' is a joke.
http://savemenhaden.wordpress.com/2010/ ... dville-va/

6. "By-catch" is NOT counted by Virginia. That is problem #1. Problem #2 is that without a food source in the Estuary for the spawning or young Rockfish up in MD waters, the species crashes... which is what has been happening here for years.

7. Poaching Rockfish in MD is a HUGE problem. MDDNR have found subsurface gill nets that have been 3 MILES long in the Bay, and that's just the ones they found. Commercial gill nets and hook and line commercial fishing make a scarce resource even scarcer.

8. And finally, politics (and money) means poachers get a slap on the wrist, and are out poaching again the next day. The "justice system" is a huge joke. It's not just fish poaching either. Oyster poaching is an equally prevalent activity.

9. Want to save the Rockfish? Here is what you do. First, shut down Omega Protein because they are removing the food these fish need. Next, eliminate nets from the Chesapeake. ALL nets. Then eliminate commercial fishing for Rockfish and give it game fish status.
Will it happen? Not while we have a legislature that is in bed with the commercial interests and money changes hands freely. :(
 
Kevin, what a depressing scenario, huh? I just had a buddy up from the chesapeake, and he was telling me about the drift netting for stripers. That's incredible!!

It's a testament to the resilience of the species that they still exist at all!
 
True Dave, but between the legal nets and the illegal ones, I'm not sure how they will survive.
It's very depressing. :(
 
:eek:
Dead On.... We need to do something!
Buy back all the commercial licenses in MD, NY, MA.
Striped Bass are worth more alive than dead!

Join CCA and lets fight it! 8)
 
PeanutBunker":7r1fv9c5 said:
:eek:
Dead On.... We need to do something!
Buy back all the commercial licenses in MD, NY, MA.
Striped Bass are worth more alive than dead!

Join CCA and lets fight it! 8)


Absolutely. :wink:
 
I have not found any crabs in their bellies, but admittedly, I only keep one or two fish a year.
I'm mostly CPR (catch, photo, release).

Part of the problem in the Chesapeake is that the Omega boats net the menhaden, then vacuum them into the factory ships leaving little forage left for the Rockfish.
Because the menhaden are not here, the Rock are forced to eat silversides which is like switching a Rockfish from a steak diet and putting them on a lettuce diet.

Maybe they do eat crabs, but I have not seen it.
 
Striper down here at the mouth of the bay is a mythological creature. The large Mid Atlantic Rockfish Shootout had one fish turned in during the 2012 tourny. Last December's tourny saw NO fish turned in. This year's tourny has been moved back to the end of the month.

Another striper tourny was held this past weekend. I don't know the number of fish turned in. I read one story of a team that fished non-stop without sleep and hooked one fish, then 15 minutes before rods-out, hooked their second. They bee lined it into the weigh station and won the calcuttas. They fished the entire length of the CBBT before heading up the inside the eastern shore.

I caught one nice sized 44" striper two years ago during coastal season. Not a one during bay season. Last year it was so bad in the bay and then reading about the coast, I didn't go out. Charter guys said they were marking bait off shore and fish, but the fish weren't biting. They hoped that when the tuna and whales showed up, they hoped the competition would cause the striper to eat. It didn't. However, guys at the light tower, about 18 miles out, couldn't keep striper off their hooks.

I went out a week ago and never marked a fish or bait. Never saw anyone boat one. Had a boat slow down as he passed and asked where the heck the fish were.

I suspect my experience doesn't match everyone's but it matches a great many others.
 
GotChrist?":1lw3opkl said:
I suspect my experience doesn't match everyone's but it matches a great many others.

I think your experience matches more of us than you think. :(
 
There is a man of growing fame on fishing TV and on Hull Truth, a boating forum. He's a local. Jet Ski Brian. He hasn't caught squat in the bay so headed into the York River today. He caught a few school sized fish and all had open sores. You can find pictures of his recent catch on Hull Truth in the Photo Section, York River.

The Virginia Beach Anglers Club had their Striper Tourny today. I'll let the picture tell the story:

https://www.facebook.com/SeaTowHamptonR ... =1&theater
 
GotChrist? said:
There is a man of growing fame on fishing TV and on Hull Truth, a boating forum. He's a local. Jet Ski Brian. He hasn't caught squat in the bay so headed into the York River today. He caught a few school sized fish and all had open sores. You can find pictures of his recent catch on Hull Truth in the Photo Section, York River.

The Virginia Beach Anglers Club had their Striper Tourny today. I'll let the picture tell the story:

https://www.facebook.com/SeaTowHamptonR ... =1&theater[/quote

http://jetskibrian.com/

This is his website. He takes some amazing photos too. Very talented man.
 
What are the size regs south of NJ? Some of the fish in those pictures sure look tiny! Maybe that's where the national regs should put there nails...
 
My reaction as well.

For many reasons, NC, VA and MD are not doing us any favors when it comes to conservation efforts of striped bass.
 
Each state has different rules. MD is no exception.
However, since the Chesapeake Bay is the 'incubator' for 80% of the population, the rules here are especially convoluted.

The DNR sets the rules every year and unless you keep the rule book with you every year, you can find yourself out of compliance, since the rules change every year.
The catch-and-keep season generally begins at mid-month in April, but will shift due to the spawn. It generally ends on Dec 15th.
There is a C&R period before the season opens, and after, but few people fish the off season.

Different rules and time periods for upper vs lower Bay, and different dates for the tributaries after the spawn.
Tributaries are generally closed until June 1st.
Certain times of the year there are slot size limits, other times of the year there are catch limits (but never more than 2 fish per person).
Size restrictions can change by time of year, with summer resident fish having been >18" in years past.

As I said... it is complicated.
Since we raise the fish that end up in your waters, the DNR tries to make it fair for everyone, but even here there is controversy.

Of course... and then there are the poachers. :evil:
 
Two, 18-28" or one 18-28 and one over 28". In the past, it was 18-28 and one over 32 in the spring and one over 34 in the fall. 28-32 (spring) and 28-34 (fall) were the slot fish you could not keep. Come Jan 1, it's one fish only over 28 for coastal season here in VA.
 
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