Where are the Striped Bass?

[surferman]

They are doing it every day in Va and off the coast of North Carolina. Here is a report that was posted somewhere else 1/23/09-




Misbehaving Recs (and some Coms)

I thought about this for a while before posting. The longer I thought about it, the more I felt that it needed to be said.

Two Saturday's ago, I was off the VA and NC coast fishing for striper. We set the radar cursor on a 3nm distance, perpendicular to our southward movement. We ran just inside the 3nm limit all the way from VA Beach down to Corolla NC.

It was a beautiful day...almost a sheet of glass. Water temps were 36 deg when I passed the CBBT and they got warmer as I moved south. When I hit 40 deg water, I started seeing some bait and marks.

All the way down, we saw a lot of boats out about 3.5nm to 5nm from shore (I +put the radar cursor on them to check the distance). I was out 3nm and they were out another 1.5nm to 2nm.

Ran into the fleet just a bit south of Corolla. About 10 boats were inside the 3nm line, while it looked like about 150 were scattered from the line all the way out to about 5nm. I checked the radar cursor again to make sure I didn't make a mistake. Then I used the chart/radar overlay to see if I got the same distance on the chart. Both readings showed me at 2.985nm from shore (0.015 seems to be width of a pixel on my screen).

It simply blew me away to see such a large number of clearly illegal fishing going on. Yea, yea, I know...they were "targeting blue fish." If you believe that I have a bridge in AZ to sell. There were a few charters in the mix outside the line, but the majority were recs.

We talk conservation, but I guess far too many of us believe that conservation is for the "other guy," not us.

Guys...we have absolutely nothing to say about the commercial fishery, if we are going to be so flagrant about violating the fishing laws ourselves. We complain about the declining numbers of big stripers. We complain about Omega scooping up all the forage fish. We complain about the netters. But we had better start looking after our own misbehavior before we blame the "other guy" for the problem. I believe we [recs] are a big part of the problem. Based on what I saw two weeks ago, no one will convince me different.

I can kick myself for not having a pen and paper on board to write down boat names and hull registration numbers and calling them into the Coast Guard. Yesterday I bought a small whiteboard and dry-eraser pens to keep on board. From here on out, I won't leave home without it and the phone numbers of the MD, VA, and NC authorities. You can bet your sweet bippy that I plan to report them.

My $0.02

[captnemo]

This came from a CCA press release. I guess those guys on that board are all smoking dope, or they are influenced by the commercial rapers.



Coastal Conservation Association
6919 Portwest, Suite 100, Houston, TX 77024
Email: twvenker@joincca.org Website: www.joincca.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 11, 2010 CONTACT: Ted Venker, 1-800-201-FISH

ASMFC Takes Wrong Turn on Striped Bass
Signs pointing to cause for grave concern met with proposal to up commercial harvest

After hearing a litany of significant concerns about the health of the striped bass population presented by its own Technical Committee and by law enforcement personnel, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Striped Bass Management Board did the last thing anyone expected at its meeting last week - directing staff to draft an addendum to the management plan which would increase the coastal commercial striped bass harvest.

The stunning turn of events left conservationists shocked at the Board’s apparent disregard for strong evidence pointing to numerous problems with the Atlantic striped bass population. Unlike the 1970s when rampant overfishing was the primary cause of the stock’s crash, the current picture painted by scientists and officers is all the more bleak because of the wide variety of factors that are negatively impacting striped bass.

“This is just the latest indication that the ASMFC has lost its way as an agency committed to proper resource management,” said Charles Witek, chairman of CCA’s Atlantic Fisheries Committee. “As bad off as the stock was in the late ‘70s, the fix was rather straight-forward. What we are looking at today could be much more difficult to reverse. The very last thing anyone needs to discuss during this time of uncertainty is increasing commercial harvest.”

Among the information presented to managers was a report on the declining trend in the striped bass Juvenile Abundance Index, a report from law enforcement personnel on suspected “significant and unreported” poaching in the Exclusive Economic Zone, and a report on the potentially devastating impact of Mycobacteriosis in Chesapeake Bay, the primary striped bass spawning ground for the entire Atlantic Coast, where 70 percent of the fish sampled had lesions associated with the disease. In aquaculture, Mycobacteriosis infections are virtually always fatal, and since infected striped bass that are tagged and subsequently recovered never show any signs of recovery, the disease has dire implications for striped bass everywhere on the coast.

Such reports by fisheries professionals, viewed with the well-documented decline in spawning stock abundance and decreasing recreational harvest at the northern end of the striped bass’ range, paint a troubling picture of the species’ future.

“This stock has problems mounting on all fronts, and managers seem content to wring everything they can from it before the party ends,” said Richen Brame, CCA’s Atlantic Fisheries director. “This is not the stance anglers have come to expect from the same commission that was widely credited with making the hard decisions needed to save striped bass just over three decades ago. They say those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, and that is a road anglers don’t want to go down again.”

###

CCA is the largest marine resource conservation group of its kind in the nation. With almost 100,000 members in 17 state chapters, CCA has been active in state, national and international fisheries management issues since 1977. For more information visit the CCA Newsroom at www.JoinCCA.org

[storminsteve]

Among the information presented to managers was a report on the declining trend in the striped bass Juvenile Abundance Index, a report from law enforcement personnel on suspected “significant and unreported” poaching in the Exclusive Economic Zone, and a report on the potentially devastating impact of Mycobacteriosis in Chesapeake Bay, the primary striped bass spawning ground for the entire Atlantic Coast, where 70 percent of the fish sampled had lesions associated with the disease. In aquaculture, Mycobacteriosis infections are virtually always fatal, and since infected striped bass that are tagged and subsequently recovered never show any signs of recovery, the disease has dire implications for striped bass everywhere on the coast.

Such reports by fisheries professionals, viewed with the well-documented decline in spawning stock abundance and decreasing recreational harvest at the northern end of the striped bass’ range, paint a troubling picture of the species’ future.

“This stock has problems mounting on all fronts, and managers seem content to wring everything they can from it before the party ends,” said Richen Brame, CCA’s Atlantic Fisheries director. “This is not the stance anglers have come to expect from the same commission that was widely credited with making the hard decisions needed to save striped bass just over three decades ago. They say those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, and that is a road anglers don’t want to go down again.”

I don't get it, keep the numbers up by catching more fish? Where is the logic in that? Will they give commercials more because they give everyone more or will they take away from the recreational allowance to give that to the commercials?

[jigfreak]

[/CENTER]


I don't get it, keep the numbers up by catching more fish? Where is the logic in that? Will they give commercials more because they give everyone more or will they take away from the recreational allowance to give that to the commercials?

This is absolute BS. To say with all the evidence they were presented with that striped bass are not even in a slight decline, it almost seems like some special interest gtoup paid off these guys.
Here is something I found from an ASMFC site- reading it to me seems he is blaming it on natural striped bass mortality -- W T F is thatm about?




SHEPHERD: We can get more specific. As pointed out by the recent public comments there, the catches have varied by state, but generally there has been a decrease in the last couple of years...Maine has seen a decrease; New Hampshire, likewise, a very steep decline in catch. Massachusetts, the discard numbers have decreased steadily, although the landings have remained relatively stable after the initial decline. Rhode Island has decrease... Overall the recreational landings and discards have decreased in the last few years with the exception of those states in the New York Bight, which is outside of the Hudson River Area.


We’ve done some projections of the estimate of eight-plus abundance in the spawning stock biomass. Because of the incoming year class strength, the projection of abundance would suggest that it should remain relatively stable for the next two years and increase a little bit as we get particularly that 2003 year class start moving into the system, but then a decline over several years of those weak year classes that were evident in the recruitment pass through the system...

We also did some projections of harvest. If the status quo fishing mortality of 0.2 were to continue, we would expect to see a declining trend in harvest, which is landings and bycatch, for the next several years; a slight uptick three years out with the incoming stronger year classes; then a continuation of declines through that.

The conclusion from the assessment update is that it is currently not overfished or subject to overfishing according to the definitions... Specifically for the Chesapeake Bay – well, when we look at the model with the two period – this is total coast – actually, the F is a little bit higher but M is much greater than the 0.15 that we’ve been using in the catch-at-age model. It’s anywhere from 0.28 to 0.43 in 2008. So these additional tagging models would suggest that has been an increase in natural mortality, and that’s something that we intend to look further at in the next go-around for use in the physical catch-atage model as well as to look at the effective variable and an increasing M. It’s thought to be primarily from the outbreak of myco in the Chesapeake

* the lower spawning numbers in the Chesapeake
* the growth of the myco disease in the Chesapeake
* the increased mortality rate from stripers as a result of myco
* the fact that this increased mortality rate has not ben factored into the Tech Committee's model's

http://www.asmfc.org/meetings/winter...ementBoard.pdf).

[DarkSkies]

Dave A from the Reel seat in Brielle NJ talks about getting involved and why it's important

[DarkSkies]

Dan has been fishing for a long time. Here he shares his thoughts about how things used to be, and where he sees fishing heading.

[bababooey]

A new article on the state of the bass fishery, and some thoughts.
From Saltwater fly fisherman mag, july aug 2010 issue.
Striper Article.pdf

[crosseyedbass]

They went to hell in a hand basket because not many practice catch and release.

[DarkSkies]

NOAA findings


I was looking for an online source for Al Ristori's Conservation Watch article in the 7-8-10 Fisherman magazine (NJ).

In it he says that coastal striped bass catches are down sharply in recent years.

"The recreational striped bass catch figures, compiled by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), including the Wave 5 results for 2009, reveal a precipitous decline".





In the above, he's referring to the years 2006-2009. Logically, these are the most recent data figures available, so they should be listened to.

If anyone finds the rest of the article online, feel free to post citing the source, thanks.



Here's the NOAA PDF from a few years back speaking about a relative decline in certain anadromous species.

http://spo.nwr.noaa.gov/unit03.pdf

[voyager35]

Thanks for the info dark. Anyone who fishes a lot has seen a downward decline over the past few years. It is what it is, why deny it? Fishing was spectacular this spring, the big bass were in the ocean for a good while. That still doesn't mean there are more fish. They were just concentrated where the bunker was. I don's see how people don't get that.

[BassBuddah]

Thanks for the info dark. Anyone who fishes a lot has seen a downward decline over the past few years. It is what it is, why deny it? -I don's see how people don't get that.

They don't get it because a lot of them can't be bothered. Look at the leaderboards of all the hottest surf tourneys at M this year - Korkers Cup, Paulies, and so on. Compare the results from 2010 to the years 2000 to 2009. Ask yourself where all the big fish have gone. Look at all the previous years, and then try to say with a straight face that there are more bass now. I would like to see someone prove that to me with statistics. I know they can't because I have seen the decline with my own eyes and in my catches.

[DarkSkies]

I wanted to add the link to Finchaser's "Decline of Bass" thread here.

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/...ecline-of-bass

Fin has been fishing for over 55 years.

He's seen it all. Some might think he's preaching. Some might think of him as chicken little claiming "the sky is falling" when in fact there's no danger at all....

If you do think that, I respectfully submit you haven't been fishing for very long, or have not had to experience the lean fruitless bass fishing years that led to the striped bass moratorium in 1982.

People, we're not preaching catch and release and joining PETA here.
All we're asking people to do is look at the gov't documented ASMFC declines in YOY bass numbers. Ask yourselves if the stock is healthier than it's ever been, how is this decline possible?

Many who have a few decades of fishing experience understand this, they don't need it "explained" to them. There are some outspoken charter captains and writers out there who are trying to bring their anecdotal evidence and experiences to others.

We need to keep reaching the younger anglers out there. We need to keep reaching out to them, and illustrating why their 4, 5 or less years of experience doesn't give them the full perspective or allow them to see the complete picture of a trend that may not be apparent enough until it's again time to close the striped bass fishery.

I hope that we can continue to do that here without seeming antagonistic.
Aggressive, Yes
Antagonistic, No.



Lately, this year and last, I'm getting an attidude of apathy from the younger, less experienced anglers out there.

There are some that are concerned. I'm grateful for that. However, some younger anglers who have no concept of the moratorium, don't even want to hear about it. They feel their perspective is the only one. More importantly, apathy reighs supreme among many of today's fishermen.

They can't be bothered. But tell them there are 40lb bass crashing the beach,,,,,
and suddenly they become interested.

A lot of the original posters in this thread tell me privately they have given up trying to reach the newer generation, that it's useless.

I'm inclined to agree to an extent....but some part of me still refuses to give up.

Whether people think I'm preaching or not, I'm still gonna try to bring these perspectives to you. And I'm grateful for people like Finchaser and others who still have the fire coming out of them.....maybe people will open their eyes before it's too late.

[lostatsea]

I hope you're not ready to give up yet, DS. Here is an article that was just published in the Vineyard Gazete:

http://www.mvgazette.com/article.php?29887


‘Scary’ Decline In Striper Stocks

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL
A drastic decline in striped bass stocks has state and federal officials scrambling to protect the fish, but many recreational fishermen say the government isn’t moving fast enough.

“It’s really scary,” said Cooper (Coop) Gilkes 3rd, owner of Coop’s Bait and Tackle shop in Edgartown, who has seen the haul from the annual June catch-and-release striper tournament fall dramatically. “At one point we had somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 fish weighed in on one night. Last year there were 100 and it’s like a staircase going all the way down to last year. It’s just dropped every year.”

Last year, Mr. Gilkes said the annual springtime sea worm hatch in the Island’s coastal ponds — an event that historically attracts stripers by the hundreds — had “just about failed” after years of under-performance.

“It’s mind-boggling that we could get to this point with everybody watching,” he said.
Mr. Gilkes’s experience is supported by national data. In Massachusetts the Division of Marine Fisheries acknowledges that from 2006 to 2010 the catch of small stripers dropped by nearly 75 per cent.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) cited a 66 per cent decline in the estimated recreational catch from 2006 to 2009, and in March called for a drastic 40 per cent reduction in striped bass mortality for 2012 to help replenish the ailing spawning stock in the Chesapeake Bay.

But in an April letter to Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries director Paul Diodati, state Sen. James Timilty of Bristol and Norfolk County pushed for a 50 per cent reduction in striper mortality for this year. The move is backed by the fishing advocacy group Stripers Forever.

“As we look ahead to the season we must focus on protecting what is left of the large 2003 class of breeding females and work to avoid another total crash of the striped bass population,” Senator Timilty wrote.

“It’s a very smart move and why they will not act on it I have no clue,” Mr. Gilkes said in his tackle store on Thursday.

For fisherman and Striper Wars author **** Russell, Mr. Timilty’s 50 per cent proposal would be a good start, but he isn’t holding his breath.

“It’s a bureaucracy and it takes time to put things in place,” Mr. Russell said. “I’m glad that the ASMFC has finally woken up to the fact that we need to take some steps to address this but I just think it should happen now instead of postponing it for another year. It’s definitely heading in the direction of [the declines of the 1970s] unless they take some pretty severe measures.”

In an e-mail to the Gazette this week, Mr. Diodati said he has received some two dozen letters calling for a reduction in the 2011 harvest and that he shares the public’s concern about striped bass. But, he claims, it is not “possible or prudent” to act this year, citing an updated stock assessment due to be completed at the end of the summer that would guide the agency’s policy.

“Since there is no prior evidence showing that poor juvenile production is a result of excessive fishing mortality or low spawning stock abundance, it makes good sense to review that information prior to taking any management action,” Mr. Diodati wrote.
He also said the ASMFC could at any point freeze state management programs for several years, potentially keeping Massachusetts catch levels far below reasonable limits indefinitely.

“The interstate fisheries management program does not reward a state or offer incentives for taking proactive conservative actions,” he wrote.

The cause for the decline of the stripers is unresolved and hotly contested, but Mr. Diodati cautions that there are material differences between the current crisis and the devastating collapses of the 1970s.

“Today’s resource condition is much different and better than when striped bass stocks became depleted in the mid- to late-1970s,” he wrote. “Then, catches of large (and small) fish went virtually uncontrolled at the same time that young of the year production was plummeting.”

Mr. Diodati said that the numbers of reproductively mature fish remains relatively high, even above management goals and insists that the problems in the striper stock are attributable in large part to poor water quality and disease in the Chesapeake where the fish spawn, rather than overfishing along the coast.
Mr. Gilkes, though, thinks that everyone is responsible for the decline, recreational fishermen included.

“My own personal opinion is I’d like to see them go back to 36 inches for recreational fishermen and one fish a day,” he said. Currently recreational fishermen are allowed two fish a day with a 28-inch minimum. “I think that’s plenty until they’re back. It’s not being managed right. I know what worked last time when they went to 36 inches and they brought her right back. I was shocked at how fast those fish came back,” Mr. Gilkes said.

Mr. Russell also advocates the one-fish-a-day limit. Though he acknowledges that water quality in the six-state watershed of the Chesapeake Bay, which reaches far into Pennsylvania and includes Wahington, D.C., and Baltimore, may be affecting the bass, Mr. Russell implicates two other major factors in the stripers’ decline: poaching and the commercial menhaden harvest.

As the Gazette reported in February, more than 10 tons of illegally gill-netted striped bass were confiscated by Maryland environmental police this winter and a video of hundreds of dead stripers caught as bycatch in North Carolina waters has surfaced on the Internet.


As for the commercial menhaden fishery — the small fish is a staple of the striper’s diet — Mr. Russell said: “It’s basically one company, Omega Protein,” referring to the Houston-based fish oil supplement and fish meal supplier, the largest of its kind in the world.

“It’s true that the water quality is not very good but the menhaden abundance according to the AFSMC’s own data has gone down 85 per cent in the last 25 years,” he said. “The numbers are at historic lows and the striped bass are not getting enough to eat.”

With striper season poised to begin any day, Mr. Gilkes, whose livelihood depends on the recreational fishermen, doesn’t know why the fish have disappeared. All he knows is that he has had enough.

“I just want them back,” he said as he checked out a customer’s lures on Thursday. “I don’t care how they get them back. There are some very dark clouds forming and I don’t like them.”

[7deadlyplugs]

I found this on another site. This Capt charters in the NY Harbor area. Some guys say there is no decline, stripers are stronger than ever/ I suppose this guy, and his statistics, are Learn from the past, thats what the posts here basically say, and I agree with them.

Here is what he said:
bass decline

"I have charters for bass Monday to Friday, 5-9 PM, May 1 to Nov. 10. I have been fishing NY harbor since 1994. By '96, 5 fishermen were averaging 20-30 bass, per night, clam chumming. Right through the summer!! Most fish were 23-27 inches. We would catch a few each week that were over 28 inches, but not many.

Today,.....same spots,..... we catch 6-8 fish a night. Of those 75% are now over 28 inches. School bass are missing. Ask the guys who fish Little Neck Bay in the spring. They'll tell ya' the schoolies are NOT like they used to be.

We are KILLING TOO MANY bass!!
My suggestion? 36 inch minimum size, one fish per person. "

[captnemo]

I agree with this writer's opinion:


Though it’s been said to death, we need to conserve the breeding stack with a true slot, possibly as seemingly brutal as throwing back bass between 32 and 40 inches. In a perfect world, that would leave loads of eating fish (24 to 28?) and well-earned tournament trophy fish (over 40 inches).

[DarkSkies]

Great points, folks.


Finchaser and I have been all over the NJ coastline in the last 2 weeks. More bunker than you can imagine.... and no appreciable amounts of bass under them, except for the last 2 days, October 25 and 26....in a few days we'll be into November, the first year in a long time without any notable Fall surf concentrations of bass from NJ to Montauk.






Some people have called me recently and asked if I could get behind the "Save the bunker" movement, as the bunker numbers are down an estimated 70-80%...

I say that is certainly troubling....
but please consider this.....

If we miraculously quadrupled the amount of bunker tomorrow, putting them back to historic levels, we would still have the same amount of bass in the waters off our East Coast....

Food for thought, instead of saving the bunker....how about saving the bass.. only keeping 1 instead of your limit each time, self imposing a slot size on ourselves, releasing all fish between 32-38" (the most fecund or most prolific breeders).

All these above suggestions could help to keep our bass numbers from declining further...while striped bass are not endangered, they are certainly on the decline....if anyone wants to prove otherwise please post up your striped bass fishiing logs from the last 10 years as proof....

[surfstix1963]

For many of the newer guys that can't face reality(Not All)what Rich mentioned about Fin fishing for 55 yrs he has seen it all I'm sure he has and he is not on here with constant updates because he enjoys typing he is trying to make everyone aware of the current crisis of bass and you may or may not want to listen or agree I guess thats your choice but my money is on Fin being correct I wish I had 1/4 of this mans experience in fishing.They have seen it they have lived it and they are seeing history repeat itself and trying to make us aware of the end result.As much as I like bass fishing another moratorium may be good for the fish and a valuable learning lesson for others.

[finchaser]

People wanting to save bunker are the snag and drop crew,with no disrespect is really the only way some can get a fish. Bunker have made many fisherman so called bass fisherman and fear without them they won't score. These same people are the ones who helped wipe a breading class of fish. Number don't lie all big fish came from 20 years ago a major YOY and now 2011 anther record spawn that won't be ready for harvest (28") if they survive mother nature until 2019. In the mean time they will continue to wipe out spawning size fish from the last successful class from the early 2000's. Think about it fish have gone from numerous 50,to 40 to 30 now 20's the last big YOY index is almost wiped out. The 2011 YOY will take until 2031 to be a 50, many reading this won't be alive to witness this if it happens at all. The fish are approaching a size that can only chase bunker not eat it. Two days ago a school of bunker was in the surf bunkering as I call it, a perfect day for them no harassment's. The school stretched from Avon to Seaside in some area's so thick you couldn't fish from the beach. Watched anglers boat and beach snag away all they did was kill bunker.

Think of it as living in a society where there are fewer and fewer children every year until you hardly see any.


Remember pay attention to the bad things history has taught us or be prepared to live it again.

[DarkSkies]

1. Number don't lie all big fish came from 20 years ago a major YOY and now 2011 anther record spawn that won't be ready for harvest (28") if they survive mother nature until 2019.

2. In the mean time they will continue to wipe out spawning size fish from the last successful class from the early 2000's. Think about it fish have gone from numerous 50,to 40 to 30 now 20's the last big YOY index is almost wiped out.

3. The 2011 YOY will take until 2031 to be a 50, many reading this won't be alive to witness this if it happens at all. The fish are approaching a size that can only chase bunker not eat it.

4. Two days ago a school of bunker was in the surf bunkering as I call it, a perfect day for them no harassment's. The school stretched from Avon to Seaside in some area's so thick you couldn't fish from the beach. Watched anglers boat and beach snag away all they did was kill bunker.

Think of it as living in a society where there are fewer and fewer children every year until you hardly see any.


Remember pay attention to the bad things history has taught us or be prepared to live it again.

Some good points made here. And Fin, as well as many of the old-timers here, have lived through it all.
People think of some of this as preaching, because many of those folks have been fishing seriously for less than 10 years. At that level you might not notice trends like those we're seeing......

Thanks all for your continued feedback in this important thread....

[vpass]

My sentiments exactly, I notice over the years I'm catching more keepers and less shorts. Most of the shorts this year are maybe 3 years old. I’m not seeing many 4 to 8 years old fish. And hardly any fishes older then 10 years old (my luck is not that good for this size fish, it could be me.). If the 2011 YOY is true, it could be fun fishing in 4 or 5 years from now, keeper size in 8 years. bigger fish will be rare . We need to start protecting these fish to have a better then average YOY. And the way I'm seeing fish being kept or killed (N.C.) we could be headed for disaster.

The only reason the 2011 YOY was good is that all conditions were meet to have this striped bass spawn succeed as it did. Why were 2004 to 2010 not as good?