The Striper Situation - What is Next?

[Angler Paul]

I am sure some of you read my previous article a couple weeks ago. The beginning of this article is pretty much the same but I revised it to reflect what has happened to this point and what I anticipate will happen in the near future. Some have asked me what the JCAA poistion is and about the bonus program which I addressed in this article. For those who read my previous post, you may want to just skim though the first half as the new material is in the second half. If you care about stripers and striper fishing, you need to get involved.


Ok, by now many of you have read the new striper addendum and formulated your own opinions on it. I have read an awful lot of comments on the internet, yet relatively few people came to the hearings we had in New Jersey. Worse yet the vast majority of people just sat there and listened but did not voice their opinions. Hopefully, all concerned parties will at least write letters or send emails prior to the 9/30 public comment deadline.
I have also read a number of comments where people have bashed Tom Fote because he favors status quo and does not believe stricter regulations are needed at this time. Tom is one of our state's three representatives on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Council. Other states from North Carolina to Maine are represented on this council as well. Each state has only one vote so our three representatives will have to reach a consensus prior to voting. The ASMFC is expected to vote on the addendum at their October meeting. As a commissioner,
Tom represents all the fishermen of our state, both commercial and recreational. He does not represent the Jersey Coast Anglers Association, the Berkeley Striper Club, the Fish Hawks or any of the other clubs he belongs to at the ASMFC meetings. He does his best to be impartial and fair to all of our fishermen while he does what he feels is best for our various fishery resources.
Tom has been taking a lot of heat for his stance on opposing reducing the mortality on stripers but be advised that Tom has been an avid striper fishermen for many years and has been involved in fisheries management since the 1970's. He has some very valid reasons such as the fact that the stock has not been over fished and over fishing is not occurring. Please remember that without Tom Fote, we would not have achieved game fish or no-sale status for striped bass in our state. We owe a lot of thanks to Tom for all he has done for us.
That having been said, I am the president of the JCAA and I disagree with him on this issue. I too have been an avid striper fishermen for over 40 years and in my prime fished close to 100 nights a year for them on the jetties. I fished for them when there were very few stripers around during the moratorium years as well as the more recent years of peak abundance. For the record I favor option B to the addendum which would result in a 25% reduction in mortality within one year and more specifically I favor 1 fish at 32" because it will best protect the 2011 year class, allowing them to spawn a couple times before they are harvested. I have a number of other valid reasons for supporting this option as well.
As far as JCAA is concerned neither one of us represent the JCAA position on this matter. JCAA is composed of approximately 75 member clubs that each have one vote. Each club may send a representative or two to our monthly general membership meetings and may make a motion asking that JCAA adopt a stance on a particular subject such as the striper addendum. Often club reps then inform their respective clubs of the motion and they formulate their own position on it. The rep then votes as directed by his club at the next JCAA meeting. If the motion passes it becomes the official position of the JCAA.
Since JCAA had no summer meeting, I scheduled a special meeting on 9/3. I urged all clubs to attend with hope that we could reach a consensus on the striper addendum. Unfortunately, many of our clubs had not yet formulated their positions and those that did were pretty much evenly divided between the various options. Therefore JCAA has no official position on the addendum except for one area. Our member clubs unanimously support option A of section 3.1 which is status quo - no transfer of commercial quota. Option B would allow a state such as North Carolina where there have been no stripers in recent years to transfer its quota to a state such as Maryland or Virginia. This would allow the bass to be harvested rather than conserved. In an addendum that is virtually all about status quo or a decrease in mortality it is a appalling that the ASMFC would include something like this that would allow more stripers to be killed by commercial fishermen. Regarding the rest of the addendum, JCAA is recommending that all interested clubs and individuals give their opinions via email or mail by the 5:00 PM deadline on 9/30. Those wishing to summit written comments may mail them to Mike Waine, Fishery Management Plan coordinator, Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, 1050 North Highland St., Suite 200 A-N, Arlington, Va. 220201 or email them to him at mwaine@asmfc.org.
I attended all three of the public hearings in New Jersey. Each had about 50-55 people. The first one was in Galloway where the clear majority of people favored option B, a 25 % reduction in one year. Most there also favored one fish at 28".
At that meeting I explained why JCAA had not taken a position on the addendum other than that we opposed the transfer of quotas by commercial fishermen. At the meeting in Ridgefield Park I testified on behalf of Berkeley Striper Club that supports option B and one fish at 32". Surprisingly though the clear majority of people wanted status quo, no change in the regulations. At the Toms River meeting I gave my personal opinion which is for option B and a one fish limit at 32". Almost everyone there also spoke in favor of option B and most favored 1 fish at 32". I was impressed with the fact that the three party boat captains who spoke also favored option B though they seemed to support one of the options that would allow the taking of one fish from 28"- 34" and a second fish over 36". However, a diving group representative pointed out how that 2" gap from 34"-36" would be problematic for spear fishermen.
I attended a striped bass advisors meeting for the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council on 9/23. The NJMFC does not have the authority at this time to set regulations on striped bass. However, they did want to make a recommendation to the ASMFC. The NJMFC decided to wait until after the public hearings to formulate their position so this is what the advisors meeting was about. The Council voted in favor of recommending option B but added that they would still like us to be able to keep two fish, one smaller one and one larger one. They also oppose the transfer of commercial quotas.
The ASMFC is expected to make a decision on the addendum at their October meeting. More specifically they have dedicated most of 10/29 to discuss the striper addendum. I am confident that our NJ representatives will favor option B or C. The states to our south will probably favor status quo while the states to our north will probably favor option B. It is going to be a long interesting battle and the outcome is far from certain but my best guess is that they will choose either B or C.
Provided that the ASMFC does vote in favor of some sort or reduction in mortality, all states will be forced to cut back by the percentage that was chosen. However, states will have the option of utilizing conservation equivalency meaning that they can come up with their own options provided that they can prove that it will result in the mandated reduction. For instance, the coast wide standard might be one fish at 28" but New Jersey as well as other states might be able to have something different approved. Once that is done, a Senator and an Assemblyman will have to introduce and pass bills that will establish the striped bass regulations for our state. I expect JCAA to be at the forefront in assisting legislators to introduce bills that will best suit the majority of our anglers. Again though this is all speculation at this point as the ASMFC could still vote in favor or status quo and choose not to reduce striper mortality at all.
Lastly, many people have asked how this would affect our bonus tag program. That is a separate issue but the quota for the program is derived from what was our commercial quota. A certain number of pounds is allocated as our quota and it will be reduced by the same percentage that the ASMFC reduces the commercial quota for other states. It is important that we continue this program as our quota could be given to other states if we do not utilize it. I do not believe that we ever came close to filling this quota so we have actually been conserving striped bass since they surely would have been harvested if our quota had been given to other states that allow commercial fishing. However, our bonus tags will be in much higher demand if we are reduced to a one fish limit. Therefore, there is already talk of the program being revamped and it will have to be more tightly monitored. Hopefully, our state will revise it so that it remains fair to everyone.

Paul Haertel
President, JCAA