What can an individual do to help conserve the Striped Bass population?

[Monty]

Looking for ideas on how an individual can make a difference preventing another Striped Bass moratorium.
Maybe post meetings that are directly relevant to Striped Bass conservation.
Specific tournaments that are C and R, others that are kill tournaments.
Companies, people or boats that are contributing to the Striped Bass current demise, with complete disregard for the population, or discussing people, companies or boats that do consider the current pressure on the Striped Bass population and are doing their share to stop the killing..

Seems to me the only way things are going to change is if there is increased peer pressure, calling people and companies out that are putting such extreme pressure on the Striped Bass population.

Not everyone can go to meetings, but writing letters or boycotting certain things or spreading information about people or companies negatively impacting the Striped Bass population may help.

[vpass]

First, Striped bass are dangerous to eat, as the govement claims. They cause birth defects, and Cancer. I think they said you sould not eat more then a half of pound a month to keep your risk low. I thing if you get that in the Media people will be scarded to buy bass, and it will kill the demand.

Here is a link:

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/s...9bb2963f4.html

[surfstix1963]

It is time for a minimum 2 year moratorium no one wants that but it works.IMO

[surfwalker]

Number One- use common sense. Every year there is more and more pressure on the Bass. Just use common sense and don't abuse it.

[robmedina]

heck I would be for a moratorium. http://www.reel-time.com/articles/co...continue-road/ I am just so sick and tired of hearing about the fight- nothing, nada, zilch is changing.

[Monty]

Nice post by Surfstix of an article by Capt. John McMurray.

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ne-of-stripers

[DarkSkies]

Update....it seems that some places have broken open dating back to 10-14-13......lots of bigger bass are being caught......
I saw some very impressive pics from some of ya's over the weekend...including a 53# some friends managed in the surf at Montauk.....

Trying to keep it real.....it seems to me the bite is very inconsistent.....

**As fin was trying to tell ya's..... there are lots of areas with no fish at all.....even if you are in a boat and can burn the fuel......

Everyone knows about the fish off the SS of LI by now....and the big body of fish that was 1-3 miles off NJ seems to have moved on.....
Congrats to all those people who are getting out and putting in their time.....

**I'm not trying to preach here....but there are an awful lot of bigger bass that are being harvested...
If you catch your personal best, and it's the fish of a lifetime.....by all means you should keep and eat it if you want....and many congrats to you.....but ....without passing judgement on anyone here....there seems to be a fever to catch as many of these fish as folks can......
"Get em before they leave" seems to be the marketing call of a lot of the party boats and charters....

I'm not afraid to stand up here and say that this type of fishing is unsustainable, over the long run....
Again...it's not my place to tell folks out there whether to keep bass or not...they are tasty.....and if you never caught a big one, no one should try to make you feel bad for catching and keeping one....










However, I am trying to find some time to finish the Striped Bass assessment thread we have here...for 2013...
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...of-the-fishery
and overall, I can tell you that the best of the best, captains, old salts, and veteran anglers, who fish regularly....are noticing that the numbers of bass are just not there....

Although there is a big body of fish off the FI/ Jones area right now, there are less fish at Montauk....and if there were truly healthy numbers of bass, they would be all over as part of this Fall Migration that has started.....
That's the main point I'm trying to educate folks about,......as some really do think that if there is a large harvest, more will be "made"..
(I kid you not, someone sent me a link to a thread where someone states that as their belief..........)



So, without preaching, I am asking all the anglers out there....to consider educating yourselves about the state of the fishery....before it is too late.....thanks for reading.....

[DarkSkies]

**I'm not trying to preach here....but there are an awful lot of bigger bass that are being harvested...
If you catch your personal best, and it's the fish of a lifetime.....by all means you should keep and eat it if you want....and many congrats to you.....but ....without passing judgement on anyone here....there seems to be a fever to catch as many of these fish as folks can......
"Get em before they leave" seems to be the marketing call of a lot of the party boats and charters....

I'm not afraid to stand up here and say that this type of fishing is unsustainable, over the long run....
Again...it's not my place to tell folks out there whether to keep bass or not...they are tasty.....and if you never caught a big one, no one should try to make you feel bad for catching and keeping one....










Although there is a big body of fish off the FI/ Jones area right now, there are less fish at Montauk....and if there were truly healthy numbers of bass, they would be all over as part of this Fall Migration that has started.....
That's the main point I'm trying to educate folks about,......as some really do think that if there is a large harvest, more will be "made"..
(I kid you not, someone sent me a link to a thread where someone states that as their belief..........)



So, without preaching, I am asking all the anglers out there....to consider educating yourselves about the state of the fishery....before it is too late.....thanks for reading.....

Thanks for starting this thread Monty.......sometimes threads like this are difficult because some anglers out there do not have enough information.
They go out fishing, see huge pods of bass feeding in front of them, assume the fishery is healthy......
and those of us saying it is not.....are nuts...

There are other sites where the members argue viciously, about whether the bass are in trouble or not.....to the point it gets ugly...
I thank you people for not doing that.....

**As always, if some folks who fish regularly, can prove there is not a decline by posting your bass fishing logs from the past 8 years, stating that you are fishing the same amount of hours,. and still catching more bass than 5-8 years ago, then by all means please post up......

I encourage opinions from all perspectives here....and will support anyone's right to come on here, and prove through personal documentation,,,,,their thesis that the bass population is as healthy as ever......
Thanks for reading.....

[robmedina]

http://www.asmfc.org/about-us/commissioners on surf casters journal blog Zeno urged everyone to click on the link and email there commissioners and ask them to help reduce fish mortality. I emails all three. Please do the same. Tuesday they are having a debate and it would be great to have ".......for the people, by the people" representation.

[BassBuddah]

Rob that's a good thing but part of the problem is that they are managing the fisheries by managing the target F mortality. No offense to zeno but he is off track. That will not get it done. They need to look at the biomass and all the year classes. We have huge gaps in some year classes and that will not change until they start to look at fisheries management differently Right now the asmfc states there is no overfishing at all in the striped bass population. That statement is way off the mark because I have noticed large gaps in certain year classes.

[strikezone31]

Striped bass Spawning in chesapeake Bay still below average -
http://mvgazette.com/news/2013/10/21...6f70c607ce&r=1


Nature & Science



Striped Bass Spawning in Chesapeake Bay Still Below Average

• Mark Alan Lovewell
• Monday, October 21, 2013 - 1:44pm
• 3 Comments

The state of Maryland has released the annual young of the year index for striped bass, and while the number is better than last year, it is still well below the 60-year average.
The index measures how well striped bass spawn each year in the Chesapeake Bay. Numbers were released on Friday by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

This year?s index is 5.8. Last year, the Maryland index for striped bass was .9, a historic low. The 60-year average is 11.7.
?Several years of average reproduction mixed with large and small year-classes are typical for striped bass,? said Maryland state fisheries Director Tom O?Connell, in a release published on the state web page Friday. ?As recently as 2011, we saw the fourth-highest spawning success in the survey?s history,? the release said. The Maryland index that year was 34.6.

It takes at least six years for a striped bass to reach a length of 28 inches, the minimum size allowed for harvest by recreational fishermen in Massachusetts. It takes up to 10 years for a bass to reach 34 inches, the minimum size allowed for commercial harvest in the commonwealth.
With the Vineyard fishing derby just ending, fishermen report seeing smaller stripers this year. A total of 487 striped bass were weighed in during the monthlong contest. Last year 466 bass were weighed in.

Statewide, commercial and rod and reel fishermen landed over a million pounds of striped bass this year.
Mike Armstrong, assistant director for the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said the young of the year index will be on the agenda for discussion at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission meeting this week in Philadelphia. Mr. Armstrong said fisheries managers are watching the striped bass closely; he described the numbers as low, but within sustainable range.

?We see that the legal-size striped bass will be sparse in the next few years,? Mr. Armstrong said. ?We have a six-year hole that we have to weather.? He noted the last big spawning of striped bass was in 2011 and those fish are the schoolies that are being seen in the state waters now.
Buddy Vanderhoop, a charter fisherman from Aquinnah, said while he had a good summer for catching striped bass, the numbers of fish seen around the Vineyard were down this fall, which he blamed on above-normal water temperatures for the area. He said the big fish are still north of the Cape and have yet to migrate south.

Mr. Vanderhoop said he had a conversation recently with a fisherman who is still seeing big fish in Maine. ?We have another glut of fish coming our way,? Mr. Vanderhoop said.
Mr. Armstrong said the ASMFC meeting this week will examine the overall health of striped bass and discuss whether further conservation measures are needed. ?It will be the topic, do we need to do anything?? he said.

[robmedina]

Thanks BB- I don't know if the emails will help either but at least these commissioners are hearing from a citizen who is concerned. Maybe they will then ask the question as to why we are concerned. I remember a saying. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)"

[buckethead]

TMaybe they will then ask the question as to why we are concerned.

I agree with bb. These commissioners are so out of touch that they have tunnel vision which would prevent them from asking those questions.

[nitestrikes]

Following the recommendations in this article would help.


the latest piece by **** Russell:

http://mvgazette.com/news/2013/10/31...98f3978bba&r=1
Conservation Is Essential to Save the Striper
**** Russell

Thursday, October 31, 2013 - 3:49pm
4 Comments

The same week the 68th annual Vineyard derby came to a close, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources announced results of its 58th annual young of the year survey of striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay. This is the annual measure of spawning success in the region where the great majority of the Atlantic coast stripers come from.

A year ago the average number counted in every seine haul was a dismal 0.9, the lowest ever recorded. In 2013, the number was up somewhat to 5.8, but still well below the long-term average of 11.7. Indeed, five of the past six years have seen below-par figures.

“We see that the legal-sized striped bass will be sparse in the next few years,” a Massachusetts fisheries official told the Gazette. (It takes six years for a striped bass to reach 28 inches, at which size the state’s recreational fishermen are allowed to keep two fish a day). Derby fishermen have simultaneously witnessed a substantial decline in the bigger fish. This year’s largest, of 487 striped bass weighed in by a record 3,160 entrants, were 39.94 pounds from a boat and 34.64 pounds from shore. The once-common 50-pound fish are becoming a distant memory.

When you consider that most males don’t migrate and so more than 99 per cent of wild stripers harvested commercially coastwide are females, fewer large, egg-laden spawning fish can only add up to poorer reproduction. Especially when you factor in what’s happening to the time-honored food of choice for the bass, the Atlantic menhaden.

The population of these little baitfish that survives their first year is now at less than 10 per cent of historic levels, “a catastrophic decline,” as conservation author H. Bruce Franklin says. Yet more menhaden continue to be caught, by weight, than anything else along the Eastern seaboard. The fleet of a single company, Omega Protein, is pulling out over 410 million pounds a year from the Chesapeake, to be ground up into fertilizer, pet food, feed for farm animals and farm-raised fish, and fish oil dietary supplements for humans.

Late last year, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) voted for a 20 per cent reduction in Omega’s menhaden harvest. The corporation’s response? Send two more vessels, each capable of holding about a million metric tons of menhaden, to Reedville, Va. Meanwhile, striped bass in the Chesapeake continue to show signs of stress, malnutrition, and disease — well over 75 per cent of the bay’s resident stripers are affected by mycobacteriosis, an infectious disease that ultimately proves fatal.

The situation for Island and Cape fishermen, especially along the flats and the beaches, is grim. A decade ago shallow water locations in late spring on Cape Cod Bay customarily saw hundreds of stripers daily; now it’s 30 to 40 fish, sometimes half that. Some have seen more stripers offshore, maybe due to lack of bait inshore. Some are blaming an increased population of seals that feed on the bass. Some say higher-than-normal water temperatures are the culprit. Many now say that all those reasons are an excuse for business as usual.

Last March, more than 800 Massachusetts fishermen signed a petition calling for a 50 per cent reduction of commercial and recreational fishing for striped bass. One was Cooper Gilkes, a bait and tackle shop owner from Edgartown. “We’re waiting way too long to take action,” Coop told me recently, “while back-sliding to where we were in the 80s. The statistics all show that; it doesn’t take a rocket scientist. We’re working on one big pod of fish out there off Chatham and, if we keep hammering it, sooner or later that’s gonna be gone. I don’t see why the state can’t get it together and do something.”

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries director Paul Diodati said it was impossible to get the petition implemented in time for the 2013 season. He added: “Unilateral action in Massachusetts might not be sensible. Whatever conservation we are trying to take, it might be compromised by the fisheries elsewhere.” That seems more than wishy-washy, when you recall that Massachusetts was in the forefront with stronger regulations during the striper population crash of the early 1980s and more recently led the charge toward better ecosystem-based management of menhaden.

“There is one solution . . . Stop killing the breeders,” longtime fisherman and conservationist Lou Taborey wrote recently. “Both recreational and commercial fishermen target larger fish because regulations require that practice. A slot limit similar to what the state of Florida has for most of its game fish would stop the killing of females.” Taborey points out that a one-fish-a-day, 22-to-26-inch slot limit would be ideal. If stripers from 28 to 48 inches were protected, that would mean at least eight to 10 years of freedom to spawn.

The commercial interests of course would oppose this.
Currently, on three summer weekdays, some 2,500 commercially-licensed Massachusetts fishermen are authorized to each catch 30 stripers a day at 34 inches or longer (and five fish on Sundays). During this summer’s season, it only took three weeks to take the allotted quota of 997,869 pounds. Yet more than 600,000 people fish recreationally for stripers in Massachusetts, whose reported landings have fallen by nearly 75 per cent since 2006.

Do the math, even if you want to just think in economic terms.

At the ASMFC’s striped bass board meeting this week in Georgia, there was consensus that the management plan needs to be changed to provide more conservation.

[robmedina]

http://outdoorlivingne.com/2013/11/0...ed-bass-catch/ could there be a change on the horizon?????

[surferman]

http://outdoorlivingne.com/2013/11/0...ed-bass-catch/ could there be a change on the horizon?????

I don't think so, not with Maryland GIVING MORE to the commercial guys!



"Let's kill as many as we can before we have to save them."

I just read this. Can you or any one else explain to me why if stripers are in trouble they are saying its ok to kill more of them?


Maryland DNR Drops a Thanksgiving Turkey

Category: Fishing Reports








"Let's kill as many as we can before we have to save them." That seems to be the attitude of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Tuesday, just before closing for a five day Thanksgiving weekend, DNR fisheries dropped a turkey on recreational striped bass anglers by announcing a 14% increase in harvest in the Chesapeake Bay. At a time when striper stocks are steeply declining and states up and down the Atlantic seaboard face impending cuts mandated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), Maryland & Virginia are grabbing more fish. Here?s a link to the press release and a quote:

Determination of the Available 2014 Chesapeake Bay Commercial Striped Bass Quota
For 2014, it was decided that fishermen could safely harvest 8,652,528 pounds of Striped Bass without detriment to the Bay population. The previous year?s quota was 7,589,937 pounds and for the first time in many years the quota has been increased in the Bay. This increase of approximately 14% is attributed to a large number of fish from the 2011 year class (fish that hatch and enter into the population in a given year) which are just now reaching the legal minimum size of 18 inches.

I hope you find that as unbelievable as I do. I've tried to keep fisheries politics out of this blog lately because I want to concentrate on the fun parts of our sport, but when something this egregious comes out, I think it's important to spread the news and let our fisheries managers know just how pissed off recreational anglers can be.


At a meeting in Georgia last month, commissioners on the ASMFC's Striped Bass Management Board formally acknowleged problems with the stock and started the process to reduce fishing. Unfortunately for the fish, changes from the ASMFC take a long time. Amendments were drafted and a public comment period was scheduled with the goal of implementing harvest reductions in 2015.

Recreational anglers up and down the coast who are seeing fewer and fewer fish are disappointed that action wasn't taken right away, but most of us are resolved to participate in the change process in hopes of an even more conservative approach next year. In the mean time, concerned anglers and conservation-oriented fishing organizations are calling for voluntary harvest restrictions. Simply put, we want to save as many fish as we can until the federal government formalizes mandatory reductions. Here?s an editorial in Forbes Magazine from Monte Burke calling for voluntary cuts: Time For Recreational Anglers to Voluntarily Limit Their Catch.

Enter Maryland DNR. Now, you'd think that an organization charged to protect striped bass in the state where almost all of them are born and grow up would also consider reductions, wouldn't you? Maybe even take action ahead of ASMFC restrictions? You know, a watch-out-for-the-stock-that-just-happens-to-be-the-state-fish, kind of decision? Nope. Instead, they delivered a square slap in the face to conservation minded fishermen in Maryland and all over the East Coast by increasing harvest by over a million, that?s right a million pounds, bay-wide.



Here's their thinking as I understand it: We've had one good spawning year for stripers out of the last six. That was 2011. Those fish are just now growing to be 18-inches long, the lower limit for harvest in Maryland. Since there will be more legal fish in the Bay, they think it?s okay to kill more, especially since we usually come in below the quota the ASMFC currently sets for the state. Never-mind that once new ASMFC standards are adopted, surveys will show that striped bass have been overfished six out of the past nine years, or that overfishing is likely to occur in 2014. The attitude in Maryland seems to be that we should kill as many fish as we can before they grow up and leave the Chesapeake Bay, and before the ASMFC forces reductions.

Did I say I was pissed? I hope you are too. I believe the 2011 year class is the future of the striped bass fishery. It's the fish you and I will be trying to catch for the rest of our lives. This 14% increase isn?t likely to change because it?s already been announced and commercial quotas are set for Maryland, Virginia, and the Potomac River. One thing should change though, and that's the attitude of Maryland fishing managers. The days of managing for maximum harvest have to end. We can't just keep killing fish simply because they're here in the Bay and their heads are finally big enough to get stuck in a gill net.

Please talk to everyone you can - your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, your pastor, and especially your politicians to make sure they know about the great striped bass grab of 2014. Share on social media and do everything you can to spread the disheartening news. You can bet that DNR managers will be working all this very long holiday weekend to clean up their justifications and polish their excuses. Speaking of polishing, maybe this isn't a turkey after all but something that smells a lot worse. You can't polish a turd, and this decision stinks.

http://www.chesapeakelighttackle.com...giving-turkey/

[Monty]

I don't think so, not with Maryland GIVING MORE to the commercial guys!

"Let's kill as many as we can before we have to save them."

I just read this. Can you or any one else explain to me why if stripers are in trouble they are saying its ok to kill more of them?

It is this corrupt society we live in.
It is the almighty dollar ruling over common sense and what really would be good for the major majority of the people.
The outcry over this should be huge. Will the RFA respond in any way? I hope so.

[porgy75]

That sucks it looks like the netters have the politicians in their back pockets

[VSdreams]

Its ashame what they did in maryland they have no clue.

This is an old article I found where Capt Al Ristori is talking about catch and release.

Don't hog bass: Learn to release


Sunday, June 15, 2008

The ocean run of big migrating stripers has been very good this month, with enough large bass available that even casual fishermen have had a good shot at them. The only negative, in my view and that of many other striper fans, has been watching some fishermen boat every possible big linesider rather than releasing most of their catch.

There's nothing wrong with keeping a fish for dinner or putting one on the wall, but it's hard to believe that anyone in a gamefish state (where they can't be sold) could be making good use of what can often involve hundreds of pounds of fillet a day that will probably remain in a freezer until being thrown out in favor of fresh fish.

In many cases, it appears that some fishermen think they can only prove their expertise by throwing fish on the dock. Yet, striper pros such as ASA Angler of the Year Chuck Many, Big Al Wutkowski, Capt. Bryne Pieros, and Tony Arcabascio have gained their reputations while releasing almost all of their favorite fish.

Though the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission claims the striped bass population is in good shape, it takes a long time to replace the 20-to-30-pounders that dominate our present ocean fishery. If every expert angler filled a limit every trip, I have no doubt but that the results would be felt within a year or two. It's only the recycling through voluntary releasing by thousands of sportsmen that has been maintaining the fishery and preventing a return to those dark days a few decades ago when the catch of a striper of any size was a cause for celebration.

The use of lip-gripping fish scales has made weighing bass before release very easy, and weight can also be estimated quite accurately by using the formula -- length to fork of tail times girth squared, divided by 800. It is important to remember to use the fork-length measurement as the overall length will greatly exaggerate the true size of the fish.

Wutkowski got into a hot bite of bass Friday morning off Asbury Park that included a 50-incher that was too skinny to make the 50-pound mark -- though he estimated it in the forties before release.

There were no such trophies for Pete Connell of Avon, Larry Bissie from Point Pleasant and I Friday morning though we felt fortunate to release seven stripers from 38 to 43 inches after not leaving Shark River Inlet in Connell's boat until after 8 a.m. and missing the early bite. Stripers were still active enough in the bunker schools during mid-morning, despite all the boat traffic, that we were able to enjoy good fishing despite several bluefish cut-offs.

**** Kondak, the retired Shimano rep from Scotch Plains, retired Capt. Ted Glitzman (former skipper of Whales Tales from Manasquan) of Wall, and I joined Capt. Lou Grazioso and "supermate" Matt Calabria aboard Striper Mania for a Thursday afternoon trip that started at Shrewsbury Rocks, where bluefish made it hard to keep a bait in the water, before Capt. Bryne Pieros called us into a hot bite around bunker schools well off the beach at Deal. We all caught two or three bass up to a 38-pounder by Kondak, who released that fish. Striper Mania is being relocated today from Keyport to Sandy Hook Bay Marina in Highlands in order to be closer to the ocean striper fishing. Pieros stuck it out on his Daylight from Great Kills long after we ran home and ended up releasing 28 bass up to a 38-pounder.

Amber Rooney of Wall put all the adult striper pros to shame on Tuesday when the 5-year-old boated a 50-inch striper that weighed 49 pounds at Fisherman's Den in Belmar. Terry Rooney had just rigged a bunker for deep trolling when he thought the line had snagged bottom. His daughter took the rod as Rooney backed down and Amber said she had a fish on. The big bass had swallowed the bait and didn't fight much before Rooney was able to lip it with his Boga Grip from his 14-foot Baby Blue. That veteran striper fisherman hasn't caught a bigger bass than his 5-year-old is starting out with.

[DarkSkies]

I'm adding to this great thread that Monty started because there has been some internet talk about how much better it would be for bass and the $$ spent on the fishery if they were made a gamefish Coast-Wide,

As I understand it, this is part of the reasons for instituting the "no fishing for bass in the EEZ rule" ........
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...55-and-Updates


Rep Frank Pallone was one of the original sponsors of the Gamefish Act: (post #7)
A. For Federal waters, that legislation was introduced previously.
B. The missing piece is the extension to state waters and elimination of commercial fishing (Rep Pallone's contribution), which has never received enough support to be passed.
http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...55-and-Updates