In a surprise move, to me, the Emergency Action (E.A) set forth by the ASMFC that went into effect by July 2nd of this year has been extended to October 28, 2024. It will either be until that date or until Addendum II to Amendment 7 of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan is implemented. Now, they just had a meeting on Addendum II, and punted it until January 2024.
All of the East Coast states went into compliance by the July 2nd deadline, even New Jersey, but of course we waited until the last second. You can see when the states went into effect below. I thought for
sure the only reason New Jersey went into compliance was to give them, and Virginia also, which signed on a day earlier, July 1st, time to lobby and rally for the E.A. to not be extended past the October 28, 2023 expiration date. Now, we'll see what these states do, I am sure they're up to no good.
I'm not to well versed on Amendment 7, but you can read it HERE. I do know that it is all about the plan of rebuilding the striped bass by 2029. All of this has been done because recreational landings, and mortality, was greatly increased in 2022, over year 2021. The emergency action only put into place the new slot of 28"-31" for the rec anglers, and doesn't address the commercial sector, which continues to
hammer away at the striped bass biomass. I looked into the Massachusetts commercial fishery. It can be boat or land based and has to be by hook and line only. It can be under a business or it can be an individual, like a recreational angler, who gets the commercial license, and then sells their catch for money. There has been movement in the Massachusetts legislature to discontinue commercial striped bass fishing, unless you can prove you're harvesting 1,000 pounds of striped bass for the previous five years, by January 1, 2025, that's Bill H. 907 which went to the House on February 2, 2023. Below you can see the regulations regarding commercial regulations in Mass.
What's interesting is this. Say I'm just a guy who likes to fish and keep one for the table, and all of my friend's tables. Wouldn't it make sense for me to get the commercial license to be able to harvest 35 fish per day, minimum 35 inches, rather than try and find 28-31" fish, and only keep one? And if I didn't have a boat let me get the shore based license, two at > than 35". Something really needs to be done with the regs, same fish, same regs, except closures where needed. Poaching continues to be a HUGE part of F, mortality, and we see it year round wherever there are striped bass. Just two days ago the Mass. Environmental Police posted about a recent poaching bust. That behavior kind of lends the nickname, Massholes, to illegal anglers in that state. Don't you worry, New Jersey has it's own share of poachers, we just don't have a good nickname for them just yet.
Back to the Amendment. I'm also not to sure how all of this addresses Maryland's Chesapeake Bay size limits and the Trophy Season which runs from May 1st - May 15th with a one fish limit per angler per day > than 35". I don't how and why there's different regs for different states sometimes on the same body of water, such as the Delaware River bordering New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
So, for now, heading into the fall the emergency action remains in effect, one fish per day, 28-31".