Striped Bass Changes Article

[Billfish715]

This article explains, in a succinct way, the controversy surrounding striped bass closures, harvest, regulations and "RECREATIONAL" involvement. Believe it or don't believe it; but someone did some homework on this and didn't rely on suppositions and casual observations to arrive at conclusions.

The section dealing with "harvest" talks about striped bass in actual numbers compared to just percentages. Those numbers are referred to in millions of fish. The numbers are staggering. While millions of fish are still at large and probably pass by NJ far offshore, look at how many million fish are harvested. Again, there are millions!

Now, look at how many were released.........millions! Read further and notice how many of those released fish died. Again, it was in the millions! Who catches these millions of stripers? Recreational anglers do. Continue scanning through the article and see the percentage of the total catch of stripers that is made by recreational anglers.

Recreational anglers up and down the coast catch and kill over 90% of the striped bass. Yes, it's recreational fishermen who catch the lion's share of the stripers. Sure, there are millions of stripers out there and they are constantly under attack. Those that sneak past NJ offshore head to New England where they are hammered.

The only way to replace the millions of stripers that are harvested each year is to protect the breeders or..............impose another moratorium. New Jersey is next to last among the states that fish for and harvest stripers, yet our area seems to have been hit very hard lately. NJ harvests less than 10% of the stripers from Maine to Virginia. When the available striped bass population is reduced along the East Coast, that 10% number is reduced even more.

Recreational fishermen are the cause and the solution. There will always be striped bass to catch just as there will always be fluke to catch. The populations will never be completely wiped out but the chances of catching quality fish
will certainly be reduced dramatically.

Read the article and decide for yourself.

https://fishingbooker.com/blog/2019-striped-bass-fishing-season-closures/

[Duffman]

Been reading all these striper posts for a week now. Won’t reply with any of my thoughts as I guarantee no one would agree with me and I don’t want to get into the pissing match that’s been going on.

That being said I have 2 questions on that article.......

1- did I read correctly the author says stripers have an “exquisite” taste?

2- how is 9% mortality on released fish determined? Seems kinda arbitrary.

[Capt Sal]

Overfishing in the eighties caused the decline? WRONG!! Commercial netting did it from North Carolina to Montauk to Mass. In the eighties they would put a big net out in the surf and haul the bass onto the beach and throw them in pick up trucks and off to the market. This was common practice in Montauk. Hook and line fishermen take the blame for what the commercial sector did.Fact not fiction! I am old enough to have seen this with my own eyes!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Overfishing in the eighties caused the decline? WRONG!! Commercial netting did it from North Carolina to Montauk to Mass. In the eighties they would put a big net out in the surf and haul the bass onto the beach and throw them in pick up trucks and off to the market. This was common practice in Montauk. Hook and line fishermen take the blame for what the commercial sector did.Fact not fiction! I am old enough to have seen this with my own eyes!

That very well could have been the case in the 80s Sal but commercial landings have gone down over time as you'll see below.

A few things have happened in the more recent past ...
- Commercial quotas have been lowered starting in 2015
- Here in NJ there is a ban on commercial fishing for Stripers
- Farm raised Stripers have become popular therefore they've filled some of the demand that used to be filled by the commercials.

[Billfish715]

ASMFC Striped Bass Report

http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/StripedBassDraftAddVI_PublicComment_Aug2019.pdf

This has a lot of data to digest but you will be able to glean some tidbits about a variety of topics and form your own opinions. The image of beach haul seining will always be etched in people's minds. It did happen during the migratory seasons and its continuation was championed by Billy Joel. It really was a seasonal thing, but the commercial harvest of stripers continued throughout the spring, summer and fall by the "pin hookers" who fished with impunity with all sorts of hook and line devices. In total numbers, the hook and line fishermen still outcaught the netters. As long as wild stripers could be sold to restaurants and fish markets, stripers would always be under attack. As long as there were liberal bag limits for recreational fishermen, the same was true.

We are where we are now because of a lot of things. One thing is for sure.....if we want to keep catching large stripers, we have to conserve our resources. How that is done will continue to be debated but it's in all of our interests to modify our greed and egos.

[pectoralfin]

The numbers just don't seem right to me "In 2017, recreational anglers caught a total of 41.2 million Striped Bass. They kept 2.9 million and released 38.2 million. Out of those 38 million fish, 3.4 million ended up dying. The fact that more fish ended up dying from catch and release than from regular harvest is a clear indicator that a better catch-and-release policy is necessary."

On the bottom of the second chart it states "Recreational release mortality assumes that 9% of the fished released died" In fact that their numbers state 41.2M total were caught and 3.4M released died is only about 8.5 percent

Also, the line in the chart that is blocked off reads referring to mortality states "There is a standard percentage (9%) applied to the number of fish released" Why was the lined blocked out and where did the 48% come from?

Commercial harvest was 8% and mortality was 2% which translate to a 20% mortality rate.

Commercial harvest is to be cut by 18% while recreational harvest is to be cut 50%.

The author of the article used the numbers to grossly exaggerate the mortality rate and the impact of recreational fishery has on striped bass,

[Capt Sal]

ASMFC Striped Bass Report

http://www.asmfc.org/files/PublicInput/StripedBassDraftAddVI_PublicComment_Aug2019.pdf

This has a lot of data to digest but you will be able to glean some tidbits about a variety of topics and form your own opinions. The image of beach haul seining will always be etched in people's minds. It did happen during the migratory seasons and its continuation was championed by Billy Joel. It really was a seasonal thing, but the commercial harvest of stripers continued throughout the spring, summer and fall by the "pin hookers" who fished with impunity with all sorts of hook and line devices. In total numbers, the hook and line fishermen still outcaught the netters. As long as wild stripers could be sold to restaurants and fish markets, stripers would always be under attack. As long as there were liberal bag limits for recreational fishermen, the same was true.

We are where we are now because of a lot of things. One thing is for sure.....if we want to keep catching large stripers, we have to conserve our resources. How that is done will continue to be debated but it's in all of our interests to modify our greed and egos.
Glad you mentioned the Billy Joel thing LOL

[Capt Sal]

That very well could have been the case in the 80s Sal but commercial landings have gone down over time as you'll see below.

A few things have happened in the more recent past ...
- Commercial quotas have been lowered starting in 2015
- Here in NJ there is a ban on commercial fishing for Stripers
- Farm raised Stripers have become popular therefore they've filled some of the demand that used to be filled by the commercials.

I agree Jerry,i was referring to the eighties and earlier.