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View Full Version : Striped Bass - My Letter to ASMFC


Angler Paul
12-09-2024, 10:54 PM
Ok, this is the only place I'm posting this at least for the time being. I want to see how badly I will get beat up here first. I just don't have the time to debate this with everyone. Below is my personal opinion and it is not that of JCCA or any of the other organizations I belong to. i encourage everyone who cares about stripers to submit their comments to comments@asmfc.org whether you agree with me or not.

12/6/24
ASMFC Striped Bass Board,

I have been an avid striper fisherman for over fifty years and in my prime I used to fish for them from the jetties in New Jersey 75 nights or more each year. Though, I was for the most part a C&R guy, I liked to target large fish and would keep an occasional fish for a tournament or a yearly best. I always hoped that someday, I might catch a record of some kind. I would like to have that opportunity again. Increasing the SSB is not going to increase spawning success as there are more than enough fish in the SSB to produce a great spawn. There are many factors involved, most of which are beyond the board’s control to do anything about. However, I listened in on the webinar on 12/5 and it seems that the board does intend to take action to rebuild the stocks by 2029 through stricter regulations on both the commercial and recreational sectors. Therefore, my recommendations are below.
1. The 2018 year class will be entering the current ocean slot range (28”-31”) in 2025. That was our last good year class so they should be protected. The best way to do that is to establish a minimum size, preferably 40” or larger for our ocean fish. The SSB has been increasing in recent years and should continue to do so, especially as the 2018 year class reaches spawning size. However, beyond that we had six poor years of spawning. Eventually the larger fish will die off through attrition and there will be little to replace them. Therefore, we should also protect the 2019 to current year classes so that we might have something to fish for in the more distant future.
2. I am opposed to regionalized seasonal closures for our ocean fishery particularly in Wave 6 (November – December) as they would impact certain states more than others. In fact, this period is prime time for New Jersey’s striper fishermen while it is already past prime for most states to our north. Further, there is little else to fish for at that time, particularly for shore-based anglers. Seasonal closures should be done on a state-by-state basis with each state having the ability to choose their own seasons provided they can show that they will meet the mandated reduction. As with summer flounder, NJ’s striped bass fishery in the northern part of the state, aligns somewhat with New York but in the southern part of the state it aligns more closely with Delaware and Maryland. As such New Jersey should be its own region. Therefore, the consideration of seasonal closures for the ocean should be delayed until the TC can develop them further, perhaps in a new addendum.
3. Regarding Chesapeake Bay, seasonal closures might work as there are only two states involved. Whether you opt for seasonal closures or a change in the slot size, the percentage of the reduction should be the same as for ocean waters.
4. In the event seasonal closures are chosen, they should include no targeting. C&R mortality is responsible for 40% of the removals and therefore the C&R guys should not get a free pass. However, any seasonal closures should be done at a time when there are other species to fish for so that it only minimally effects tackle stores and other businesses. For example, it might be better to close the season in Wave 4 or the early part of wave 5 as the water temperatures are higher and C&R mortality is greater then. All user groups should cut back equally to help restore the stocks. Though no target enclosures are difficult to enforce, it may be done as it is in NJ, when no targeting is permitted anywhere except in the ocean during January and February. Also, more importantly, many of us obey the law and would not target striped bass if doing so at that time was prohibited.
5. The commercial sector should be forced to cut back by the same percentage as the recreational sector. Further, this cut should come from their landings, not their quotas. Again, all user groups should cut back equally. That is the only fair way to do it.

Sincerely,

Paul Haertel

hammer4reel
12-10-2024, 06:19 AM
Ok, this is the only place I'm posting this at least for the time being. I want to see how badly I will get beat up here first. I just don't have the time to debate this with everyone. Below is my personal opinion and it is not that of JCCA or any of the other organizations I belong to. i encourage everyone who cares about stripers to submit their comments to comments@asmfc.org whether you agree with me or not.

12/6/24
ASMFC Striped Bass Board,

I have been an avid striper fisherman for over fifty years and in my prime I used to fish for them from the jetties in New Jersey 75 nights or more each year. Though, I was for the most part a C&R guy, I liked to target large fish and would keep an occasional fish for a tournament or a yearly best. I always hoped that someday, I might catch a record of some kind. I would like to have that opportunity again. Increasing the SSB is not going to increase spawning success as there are more than enough fish in the SSB to produce a great spawn. There are many factors involved, most of which are beyond the board’s control to do anything about. However, I listened in on the webinar on 12/5 and it seems that the board does intend to take action to rebuild the stocks by 2029 through stricter regulations on both the commercial and recreational sectors. Therefore, my recommendations are below.
1. The 2018 year class will be entering the current ocean slot range (28”-31”) in 2025. That was our last good year class so they should be protected. The best way to do that is to establish a minimum size, preferably 40” or larger for our ocean fish. The SSB has been increasing in recent years and should continue to do so, especially as the 2018 year class reaches spawning size. However, beyond that we had six poor years of spawning. Eventually the larger fish will die off through attrition and there will be little to replace them. Therefore, we should also protect the 2019 to current year classes so that we might have something to fish for in the more distant future.
2. I am opposed to regionalized seasonal closures for our ocean fishery particularly in Wave 6 (November – December) as they would impact certain states more than others. In fact, this period is prime time for New Jersey’s striper fishermen while it is already past prime for most states to our north. Further, there is little else to fish for at that time, particularly for shore-based anglers. Seasonal closures should be done on a state-by-state basis with each state having the ability to choose their own seasons provided they can show that they will meet the mandated reduction. As with summer flounder, NJ’s striped bass fishery in the northern part of the state, aligns somewhat with New York but in the southern part of the state it aligns more closely with Delaware and Maryland. As such New Jersey should be its own region. Therefore, the consideration of seasonal closures for the ocean should be delayed until the TC can develop them further, perhaps in a new addendum.
3. Regarding Chesapeake Bay, seasonal closures might work as there are only two states involved. Whether you opt for seasonal closures or a change in the slot size, the percentage of the reduction should be the same as for ocean waters.
4. In the event seasonal closures are chosen, they should include no targeting. C&R mortality is responsible for 40% of the removals and therefore the C&R guys should not get a free pass. However, any seasonal closures should be done at a time when there are other species to fish for so that it only minimally effects tackle stores and other businesses. For example, it might be better to close the season in Wave 4 or the early part of wave 5 as the water temperatures are higher and C&R mortality is greater then. All user groups should cut back equally to help restore the stocks. Though no target enclosures are difficult to enforce, it may be done as it is in NJ, when no targeting is permitted anywhere except in the ocean during January and February. Also, more importantly, many of us obey the law and would not target striped bass if doing so at that time was prohibited.
5. The commercial sector should be forced to cut back by the same percentage as the recreational sector. Further, this cut should come from their landings, not their quotas. Again, all user groups should cut back equally. That is the only fair way to do it.

Sincerely,

Paul Haertel

This is a watch what you wish for moment .
If a fall closure was done , and wasn’t enough . Their next option is a a spring spawning closure of through June .
That would ENTIRELY remove a time to target stripers in Nj , And yet allow every other state their normal fishing periods when the bass enter their waters .
Forty percent mortality on properly released fish is Bullshit , and unless a REALtagging study were to prove that I personally don’t think it’s anywhere near that number .

Any reductions should be spread across every state , not pushed on one .

While I understand that fish east of us where it should be 75% Chesapeake fish /25% Hudson fish puts all the strain on Hudson fish because of lacking Chesapeake fish , all the more reason to protect those fish as much from June through November .
.
Anyone that’s been tuna fishing inshore the last month can see migration routes of fish staying outside the fence is almost unbelievable.
Schools of bass of every age class miles long .

Bigger probability of them not seeing the amount of yearling bass is due to lack of bait etc and other issues unrelated to actual spawning .
Those issues especially in the Chesapeake bay need to be addressed first .

.

Broad Bill
12-10-2024, 11:27 AM
NJ regulations for 2015 to 2019 were 1 bass 28" to 43" and 1 bass less than 43". 2020 to 2021 changed to 1 bass 28" to 38" plus a bonus. 2022 to 2024 changed to 1 bass between 28" to 31" and a bonus. So for the seven years 2015 to 2021, the emphasis by management was kill the larger fish, predominantly females and the most productive breeders of the stock.

Statistics from the 2022 stock assessment. In 2010, the female population was reported to be 105 million metric tons. In 2021 after seven years off mandating the harvest of large breeders, the female population declined to 64.8 million metric tons or a 40% decline due to the wrong regulations being in place for the better part of the prior decade.

Understand the math. One metric ton equals 2,204.62 lbs. The stock, for the female population alone, lost 40 million metric tons in 11 years when regulations mandated the harvest of larger age classes, resulting in a decline over an 11 year period of a staggering 40 million metric tons in mature female breeders which translates to a reduction in the stock of, I hope you're sitting down, 88 BILLION LBS. of the most productive female breeders from the population. Imagine the impact on egg production of the stock due to asinine regulations. It's an unconscionable number resulting in multiple tens of trillions less eggs being produced. This is no different than what the same agencies have been doing to the fluke population over the last two decades targeting the breeding stock, exactly the same. The added problem with the striper stock is the cesspool the Chesapeake has been turned into for the benefit of Virginia and their corrupt politicians. Where is ASMFC in all this and for that matter the DEP and EPA?

Now add the food chain issues and contributory pollution issues being caused by one foreign conglomerate Cooke Inc. / Omega Protein from removal of 100 million lbs. of menhaden from the bay annually along with an estimated 240 million lbs. more from Virginia waters outside the bay. Add the decline in dissolved oxygen levels in the Chesapeake caused by agricultural runoff, urban runoff and the relentless netting of menhaden by Cooke Inc. which is wreaking havoc economically at minimum on no less than 10 coastal states and risking a complete shutdown in one of the most important fisheries up and down the coast. The issue isn't the population, the issue is the exploitation of menhaden by Cooke Inc., seven years of senseless regulations mandating the harvest of the wrong age classes and the consequential impacts the exploitation of the menhaden stock is having environmentally on the bay along with the removal of that much forage from a food chain almost every predator fish up and down the coast depends on for survival.

Address the causes, not the residual results. A closure and or 15% reduction in quota will do nothing to improve the stock. You can create all the data you want, it's common sense and everyone knows it but aren't willing to make the changes needed because of politics and money. It took a decade to cause the problem, my strong suggestion would be don't try fixing it in one year as that will cause economic ruin to many small businesses. Develop a plan to rebuild the stock but that plan needs to address the problems which created the current situation and still are.

And Dan, I agree with you on the 40% of mortality caused by C&R being yet another unsupported arbitrary number thrown out to support a desired and predetermined conclusion that fits managements ill guided conclusions. That would equate to over 4 million fish killed annually due to recreational C&R mortality. Anyone see the beaches lined with dead bass or massive amounts of floaters? I don't.

That's essentially verbatim the comments I sent ASMFC less my last comment regarding discard mortality relative to C&R.

hammer4reel
12-10-2024, 12:01 PM
BB
GRAYS tags being found and released showing tons of data where those tagged bass went absolutely disproves the 40 percent mortality rate.
As do normal bass returns .

I know just this fall I caught lots of bass that had signs of being caught by someone else .

With all the monies every fishery creates it’s bullshit we don’t have actual studies going on for every species instead of arbitrary means they currently use .

Freshwater study’s of fish go way beyond what we see in the salt water fisheries .

june181901
12-10-2024, 10:37 PM
Well said Angler Paul. Appreciate your efforts!