considered preliminary, but the numbers
are appalling.
Coastwide, anglers landed (that is, released or killed) 14,107,835
fish, the worst year since 2000. Along
the Atlantic coast, some guides had to
cancel their seasons. Maine was down
from 1,004,780 fish in 2000 to 518,988
in 2008; New Hampshire from 213,868
to 91,433; Massachusetts from 7,563,326
to 4,001,795; Virginia from 1,357,299 to
647,542; North Carolina from 293,080
to 136,699. In a commercial fishery, the
value of fish increases as they get harder
to catch, so you may see more fish caught
as a stock declines.
Recreational landings,
on the other hand, tend to follow stock
abundance; and, in fact, stock assessments
are based on recreational landings.
The managers explain the dreadful fishing
with anecdotal evidence of their own,
claiming the stripers were just everywhere
anglers weren’t. One—a decent, competent
man and a fine scientist—told me
this: “Reports were that the fish were
offshore in New York and New Jersey.
Supposedly the water temperature was a
bit below average [keeping them south];
and they had record recreational catches
down there.” But the preliminary recreational
stats (which I don’t believe he had
seen) reveal no such thing.
Each year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service coordinates a cooperative trawling
expedition for wintering striped bass off
North Carolina.
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