The 2022 Stock Assessment for Atlantic Striped Bass was published a week ago and the results show that overfishing isn't occurring. According to the chart, fish mortality (F), is below the threshold set for 0.2, which is represented by the red line. However, is also shows that overfishing is still occuring because the female biomass remains below the threshhold, shown by the red line. I found the third chart in the document interesting displaying a graph showing the
striped bass harvest and mortality by each sector. According to the graph it appears that the largest mortality that striped bass face in recreational angler release mortality. That means, according to them, that more fish are killed by catch and release then anglers that keep a fish, the commercial
fisheries harvest and bycatch and release mortality. In fact, it looks like, again according to the ASMFC, is that recreational anglers kill more fish then all of the other sectors, combined. Mmmm. Now I am sure I have killed a fish or two after happily releasing it, but I would think, in this day of recreational fisherman on the shore and boat, that many, many, many dead bass would be seen secondary to release mortality. Do they all sink to the bottom and that's why we don't see them?
I don't think so. I am not a conspiracy guy, but what I see if the ASMFC looking to set the table for a morastotium on the backs of recreational fisherman, and they will use that dat and angle to shut the fishery down, or at least parts of it in different places. But wait, overfishing isn't occurring right? Below is a comment from New Jersey's appointee Tom Fote...
MR. FOTE: "Yes, that means that we basically take on the back of people who want to take home fish. We’ve reduced their catch, so the guys in catch and release could actually kill more fish. That’s it in a nutshell. Now I’m not saying that’s how we planned it, but that’s exactly what has happened to fall within our quota. It’s kind of what I pointed out three years ago. We’re not addressing the real problem here; we’re just basically restricting what people could take home to eat."
