Don't believe YOY Bullsh_t

[RJC]

I think the title of the post is misleading.

From the maryland DNR



Are you saying the numbers are BS? Annual indices of relative abundance provide an early indicator of future adult stock recruitment and document annual variation and long-term trends in abundance and distribution. I don't see anything in this statement that says we're saved.

Here's a graph of the annual yoy reports. I'm no marine biologist and i don't pretend to be. It does seem to be a fair indicator of the number of fish in different size classes that I catch form the beach.

What the graph doesn't show is the reason for success or lack thereof. I believe there are things that are just not within our control. Water temps, air temps, rainfall, salinity, water movement, success of forage species, pollution levels etc.

I suppose when everything aligns properly you have a successful yoy. When it doesn't it's a bust. Some of these things are just not within our control, some are. If the stocks are in as bad a shape as the sporties say, how is it that they managed to have great spawning success this year. Why did they not have greater success the year before when there were more big fish. 2002, 2004 2006 were below average recruitment years. Can you explain why?

How many fish are really needed for a successful YOY?





Sure I'd love to see them make it a game fish, my reasons being purely selfish. Right now i think the system is broken, but certainly not irreparable. I don't have the answers.

As far as you closing statements I'm sure there are some recs who will do likewise.

Shakey,
Your graph is for Juvenile striped bass and not Young of the Year (YOY) striped bass..
and it ends in 2006.

Look up YOY and get the Bay-wide graph. MD covers the upper portion of the Chesapeake Bay and VA the southern portion. It is the combined numbers that show the true picture for the health of the entire bay. Juvinile bass are 5 years and under.


PS I guess md refers to their YOY seine net haul chart as the Juvinile SB Chart.

The most up to date MD chart available can be found at dnr.maryland.gov.fisheries/juvindex/amweb.xls. It
shows the 2011 findings.

All I can find for VA the the damm press release. No comparible chart like the Maryland one.
The title is STRIPED BASS YOY
Bay-wide Geometric Mean Catch per Haul #### Maryland publishes the chart in two formats. My comments were based on the Geometric figures. Please disregard my earlier comments.

The Bay-wide Arithmetic Mean Catch per Haul chart is the one with the correct fish per net haul figures.

2011 shows 34.58 fish per net haul the last ten year averag is 13 fish per haul. Very close to the Hudson River productivity average of 14 fish per net haul.