Vitality of the recreational striped bass fishery
It seems like the decline of the fishery is no longer a rumor, but now a regular topic of conversation on all the blogs and news feeds. You definitely picked a good topic when you started this last year, Joe.:thumbsup: BTW, hope you are doing ok, I haven't seen you post in awhile. Hope everyone in your family is well.
http://www.warwickonline.com/pages/f...ome_news_right
by Captain Dave Monti
Jul 16, 2009 | 505 views | 0 http://www.warwickonline.com/images/...gif?1249444494 | 6 http://www.warwickonline.com/images/...gif?1249444494 | http://www.warwickonline.com/images/...gif?1249444494 | http://www.warwickonline.com/images/...gif?1249444494
Mike Shepard, one of Aquidneck Island's great shore and boat anglers, recently reminded me of the controversy surrounding the vitality of the recreational striped bass fishery. Mike shared the article “Striper Signals” from the July/September 2009 issue of Fly Rod & Reel magazine. The article is written by Ted Williams the conservation writer, not Ted Williams the ball player.
In a nut shell Mr. Williams contends that state and federal governments are not doing enough to protect the striped bass fishery, they think it is doing fine. He believes that catch limits, commercial fishing of the species and their primary food (Atlantic menhaden), malnourished fish and disease are all playing a role in a declining striped bass population.
Williams points to preliminary 2008 recreational striped bass catch data where east coast anglers landed (released or killed) 14,107,835 fish, which was the worst year since 2000.
Additionally, Williams sites the annual U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s annual cooperative trawling operation on wintering striped bass off North Carolina. The tagging operation reports that since 1990 the best catch was 6,275 fish, the worst was 147 in 2009 and the average for the last three years was 516. Fishing guides and experts are also making claims of a declining striped bass fishery.
Of particularly interest to me, is the claim that striped bass are starving when they winter in Chesapeake Bay because of a reduced supply of Atlantic menhaden (their primary food) due to commercial over fishing. This brought to mind the story of the menhaden boat working the upper Providence River this spring muscling between recreational fishing boats and taking the bait (Atlantic Menhaden) as twenty or so recreational fisherman looked on in disbelief.
Lack of food has been substantiated by tag-recapture data studies from spring spawning grounds in Maryland and Virginia. Fish captured in autumn are the same size as fish that are starved in a lab for two months Williams relates. Malnutrition makes the population vulnerable to mycobacteriosis, a disease that causes loss of scales, skin ulcers, severe weight loss and lesions. Officials estimate that sixty to seventy-five percent of the striped bass in Chesapeake Bay are infected.
How can we help preserve the striped bass fishery?
We can do a couple of things to preserve the striped bass fishery. First we can all practice catch and release more often, particularly with larger fish which tend to be egg bearing females. We can also advocate at the State and National level, for better fishery management of striped bass and their primary food, the Atlantic menhaden.
Links for more information: Ted William’s blog www.flyrodreel.com ; the Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association’s www.risaa.org ; William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science at www.vims.edu .
Some recent anecdotes from long-time fishermen
I've been getting phone calls from long-time striped bass surf fishermen lately. A lot of them are tired of ranting and don't feel anyone would be willing to listen to them anymore, so I get to hear it.
I'm not complaining, I welcome those calls. This helps to give me a unique perspective as to what the fishing used to be like 30 years ago. When guys like Finchaser, Clamchucker, Surfwalker, Stripercoast1, the OFFC, or others who have been fishing 40 solid or more years say the fishing is good, that's credible.
When they talk about how fishing numbers are way down compared to what they used to be, those comments should have equal credibility. If you believe these guys are competent, then you should also be willing to believe what they're saying about the fishing today vs 20-30 years ago, and why we should be at least a little concerned.
JCAA striped bass report and assessment
Sent by Fin, thanks! :HappyWave:
Striped Bass Report
Ed Cherry and John Toth were asked by NJ’s Division of Fish & Wildlife to serve as advisors on a committee to look at possible new alternatives to the present regulations concerning striped bass. The current regulation mandates that anglers can keep two striped bass over 28 inches.
The problem with this regulation appears that we are taking too many of the breeder stock when we catch these big fish. There appears to be a decline in the striped bass stocks and while there is no present danger that the stocks are in serious trouble, we do not want these fish to be in danger like winter flounder.
The following is a table of the alternatives that were shown to us. Only two stripers can still be kept under these alternatives. These alternatives are also equivalent to the projected stock of stripers that are now caught at 28 inches to infinity. The Bonus Tag fish and a slot fish are not included in these alternatives.
18” minimum size and greater - one fish, and a 40” minimum size and greater - one fish
19” minimum size and greater - one fish, and a 38” minimum size and greater - one fish
20” minimum size and greater - one fish, and a 36” minimum size and greater - one fish
21” minimum size and greater - one fish, and a 35” minimum size and greater - one fish
22” minimum size and greater - one fish, and a 34” minimum size and greater - one fish
23” minimum size and greater - one fish, and a 33” minimum size and greater - one fish
24” minimum size and greater - one fish, and a 32” minimum size and greater - one fish
The last alternative is the one that the committee favored. It means that you can catch one fish that has a minimum size of 24 inches to infinity. The second fish has to be a minimum size of 32 inches or to infinity. The thinking here is that so many stripers are caught that are less than 28 inches and we are throwing many of them back and killing a lot of them in the process. If we lower that limit to 24 inches minimum, then we can at least keep one striper and take it home for dinner fare.
These alternatives were discussed at the JCAA’s October’s 27th meeting and representatives were asked to take this information back to their clubs and discuss what alternative they favor or to even stick with the current regulation of two fish over 28 inches. Please bring your comments on striped bass back to the General Membership meeting on November 24th so that we can pass them on to the Department of Fish & Wildlife.
http://www.jcaa.org/jcnl0912/0912SBR.htm
Recollections of Stripercoast1
SC1/Gunny posted this on his site.
www.stripercoastsurfcasters.us
I thought you might like the perspective of someone who had seen things from both the Commercial side with commercial fishermen in his family, and as a Recreational fisherman who has fished the salt for more than 40 years:
1 The typicle tactic of defending all comms as being honest and above board is still being beaten to death by an individual that either never fishes or talks to another comm, or is completely ignorant to the facts.
The number of fish sold without reporting, AKA, black market, in my opinion, and estimation, is fully equal to the reported catch....
There are way too many recs out there that have no clue as to what is happening right now. I recently talked with a boat owner about the status of Stripers, and he showed exactly what I've been saying for quite some time. He only started fishing for Bass 8 to 10 years ago. He justifies stuffing the seat cushions with fish to offset the cost of fuel. If he doesn't come in with at least 8 fish, the number he designated, then it wasn't worth leaving the ramp.
If I had not lived the crash or maintained the Bass are dollars attitude, I could easily have been making 10 grand or more a year in unreported sales. There were times when I had the boats in the water that temptation was real, and the number of times I was approached would astound you. My reputation, pre internet, was well known on the Island, and I had the same situations my old man dealt with, the armada would follow me and watch through bino's to see what I was doing.
2.
They will divert by placing blame on every other ingrediant in the stew as the cause of less Bass near shore. Same exact arguments they used nearly 30 years ago. Blame everyone else BUT THEMSELVES.
Why is it that no Comm can make a living from the surf the way we did back then. Why is it the acres of Bass no longer blitz the entire point of the Cape, Race Point like they used to? For days on end? It's not just a bait issue, its a numbers issue, those Bass don't exist in the massive schools like days gone by.
"Just noticable difference"
I wonder if fishermen don't seem as concerned about the biomass because the states they fish in for bass seem "fine". It's hard to care about what's happening in Va when you live in NJ,NY, or Mass. People sometimes have difficulty understanding these are the same bass that passed by them. If they were only highly concentrated in 2 places in 2009, what happened to the rest of the millions of bass? What happened to the millions (4 million by some estimates) of bass that spawned in the Hudson River last year? How come fishing at Montauk for the late summer and fall was one of the poorest seasons in recent years?
This was posted earlier in this thread by Captnemo, post #17. I'm posting it again for people to re-visit it. I would like them to consider the great fishing that was to be had off Block Island this year in the summer, or the fantastic fishing now happening off the coast of Va, in light of the real life fishermens' experience and the biologists' statements here:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
captnemo
"Large concentrations of bass in some areas doesn’t necessarily equate to a healthy stock:
Man, there were some crazy striped bass blitzes in Montauk this year. The kind that make you just drop your rod and say “Holy *@$%!”. Truly extraordinary stuff. Understandably, such blitzes might make one believe that striped bass are extremely abundant. Unfortunately that is not the case. In other regions, particularly the Northeast, there are widespread complaints about the lack of quality stripers.
In Maine, guides are going out of business because of the very real lack of what was once a thriving fishery.
As guides like Capt. Dave Pecci and Capt. Doug Jowett point out,
it’s not due to the lack of forage as there seems to be abundant bait concentrations in the areas that they fish. Indeed I fear that Maine’s position at the northernmost part of the striped bass migration makes it a bellwether state.
In light of such Montauk blitzes, I ask you to consider the below passage taken from a University of New Hampshire Department of Natural Resources document titled
A Guide to Fisheries Stock Assessment.
This is the document used to educate members of the fisheries management councils on how fisheries stock assessments are conducted:
“Fishermen will actively seek out areas with greater fish concentrations. As a result, their catch-per-unit effort could remain stable in the face of a declining stock. Consider a stock that contracts its range as the population shrinks, or increases its range as the population grows. Despite the changing range, catch-per-unit effort may remain relatively constant if the fishermen focus their effort on the center of the range, where fish density remains relatively stable.”
With this in mind,
I would think managers would be practicing extreme caution when managing striped bass, particularly in light of its immense recreational value. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Delaware and Pennsylvania want to open two-month fishing seasons targeting mature male striped bass. Maryland has proposed to extend non-quota management for its trophy fishery in 2009 and until stock assessment indicates that corrective action is necessary, and Virginia wants to extend its season.
All of these measures will increase fishing mortality on striped bass.
In my opinion they are reckless, and they show no respect for the views of those hardworking Maine guides that are being forced out of business.
Undoubtedly, there seems to be a trend toward killing more bass rather than a move in the other direction.
That’s understandable given the recent stock assessment and the states’ understanding that their anglers want to kill more bass. But I think there’s a large majority of folks that would rather proceed down a precautionary road. One which insures that we have plenty of big fish around in the future. It’s up to these anglers to let their state reps know their wishes. It seems as if the kill-more-fish-now folks are the only ones being listened to at this point, and that has to stop."
Captain John McMurray
http://www.laterallineco.com/blog/ca.../striped-bass/
1 Attachment(s)
A bowl of M&Ms always looks bigger in the middle
Sent by Finchaser. This is the first day of a tourney now going on in Va. I'm happy for the guys who won, I'm sure they're happy. :clapping:
Why should they behave any differently than they have been behaving. There are plenty of bass in Va now, right? It's important to note they didn't break any laws. They were fishing to catch and keep bass as the law allows. There is really nothing to be said about following the laws as written. I want to make it clear that the guys below were only out fishing and trying their best to win a tournament. There is absolutely nothing on the books that suggests any of that shouldn't be happening.
And if a few 50# bass are caught and brought home for dinner, so what? You can always grow more 50s in the ocean right? That's what all those bunker pods are for...for the bass to feed on, right?
How many people saw bunker pod after bunker pod in NJ this year, miles of bunker in the late Spring. No bass under them, for miles. Thousands of bunker with no predators, how could that be? :don't know why:
Bass aren't like Doritos, ya can't just make another 50 when ya take one out of the biomass. It takes a 50 an average of 18-20 years to get to that size.
Here's a weight and length chart to give ya an idea how long it takes bass to get to certain sizes:
Attachment 9113
Results of the tourney, 1st day:
CITATIONS:
STRIPED BASS: 48 lbs. 8 oz. caught by Mickeal Siebert of Highland Springs, VA
STRIPED BASS: 48lbs. 1oz. caught by Nathaniel Weller of Norfolk, VA
STRIPED BASS: 54 lbs. caught by David Strbavy of Aylett, VA
STRIPED BASS: 50 lbs. 2oz. caught by William Hoover of Norfolk, VA on the Gannet
STRIPED BASS: 42 lbs. 9oz. caught by Shawn Shapiro of Norfolk, VA on the Gannet
STRIPED BASS: 42lbs. 14oz. caught by Thomas J. Blanton of Virginia Beach, VA on the Gannet
STRIPED BASS: 40lbs. 5 oz. caught by Edwin J. Keyes of Carrollton, VA on the Top Notch
STRIPED BASS: 44lbs. caught by Matt Temple of Virginia Beach, VA
STRIPED BASS: 48lbs. 8 oz. caught by James P. Morris of Spotsylvania, VA
STRIPED BASS: 47lbs. .85 oz. caught by Troy Johnson of Fredericksburg, VA
STRIPED BASS: 40lbs. 1 oz caught by Jeff Ervine of Roanoke, VA
Will history repeat itself? Lessons from the Moratorium
From the records I read, the Striped Bass Moratorium was put in place in 9-11-84. The stocks had collapsed on a Coastwide basis. There was a noticible lack in the variety of year classes coming in to the rivers to spawn. Here are some links to the Moratorium...
Striped bass Moratorium: Fecundity Studies, YOY Catch data
YOY catch data is the statistical record of fish caught in biologist nets.
These nets are pulled at the same places every year. Great care is taken to make the statistical analysis as scientifically unbiased as possible. If the YOY (Young of the year) numbers are down, it could indicate a problem.
These were some of the first statistical indicators that there was a problem back in the mid 1970's to early 1980's. When YOY indicators declined, the biologists knew there was a problem. However by that time it was too late, and in 1984 the fishery was closed down for the whole East Coast.
We have seen similar poor YOY results for the Chesapeake in 2009 and 2008. Stripers Forever published the findings, and it may be in this thread as well. If anyone wants to post up again, that would be great.