It was in thinking about this that I developed the idea for this thread. It's nothing that hasn't been discussed before.

I could summarize it all in the following thoughts...

Bass were overfished trending in the late 1970's until the early 1980's. Anglers, Recreational, and Commercial, may have had some inkling about it. Some even spoke out about it as a warning to others. Most people paid little attention to these "Chicken Littles"

Marine fisheries management back then wasn't nearly as advanced.

There was a dis-joint between the actual catches and the catches estimated by Marine Scientists.

Fisheries management, being behind the curve, failed to notice the dwindling of a few year classes that were critical to a sustainable striped bass population.

As a result that population almost crashed.

Drastic measures were needed.

A Moratorium was drafted.

Several Atlantic states, but not all, agreed to adopt the Moratorium (Back then it WAS voluntary, people. AND there were actual fishermen representatives on the boards of many fisheries management committees. Imagine that. )

A Moratorium was put in place, stocks recovered, everyone was happy, back to the party at the Pub, right?

The Striped Bass recovery was hailed as the biggest success story in the history of fisheries management.


So why not end it there?