And with that it's back to the business of teaching nursing, but before I get busy being all teachered up I just wanted to finish up sharing some of my long-winded and convoluted theories. So the above picture is of the Maryland DNR doing their YOY survey. It's the gold standard of how we look at how striped bass recruitment is going, as reported as YOY or JAI, that's separate from the SSB (spawning striped bass) numbers, or the amount of bigger spawning striped bass out there in the biomass. You can argue about science, how data is collected and interpreted, but that is what we, and the fisheries managers look at when setting quotas, regulations, and where to place the blame. Right now the finger is being pointed squarely at the recreational sector, after the commercial sector took a beating in blame for years, but they're not off the hook yet.
Let's look at the Chesapeake Bay like everything is back to "normal", like the fish still go back to spawn, the water quality is good, and there are a good amount of fish around. Now we know that's not the case currently. The fish don't go back like they used to, the water quality sucks, the winters are warmer and the river not in consistent conditions to hold a successful spawning year, and, the numbers of fish are down. So what does the Chesapeake have.....a vibrant commercial fishery. In fact the CB commercial fishery accounts for 60% of the striped bass that are harvested on the East Coast. To note
the Chesapeake Bay is 4,479 square miles, while Raritan Bay is 108 square miles, or 41 times bigger. The commercial quota for the CB commercial fishery, for Va, the PFRC, (Potomac River) and Md., for 2022 was 2,386,559 pounds. If the average fish is 8 pounds that would mean they can harvest 298,319 fish. If the same regs, adjusted by the size of the two bays, were adjusted, a similar quota for the Raritan would be 58, 208 pounds, or 7,276 8 -pound fish. Imagine that, taking 7,000 fish from the Raritan? Above is the graph from the ASMFC Addendum II draft showing the 2022 CB commercial harvest.
A few years back the poster child for commercial fishing was the above photo taken from fisherman from Delaware. These are Delaware Bay fish that go up the Delaware River to spawn, well not no more. I'm not picking on these commercial fisherman/woman. All legal fish, tagged properly, and I am sure reported. There's just something wrong with it as I look at it today. How was it ever okay? It's like looking at pictures when New York used to dump garbage in the ocean, who ever thought that up?
So the Maryland DNR has put out some copy on reasons why the YOY surveys were so low. Maybe they're doing a little damage control since they aren't doing enough to curtail the harvesting, or killing, or striped bass. Well you know I put a lot of blame on the fish, but, at the same time knowing dead fish = less fish. In the article HERE they discuss environmental factors such as warmer waters and climate that have made spawning areas less than optimal. But they continue to harvest the most fish out of all of us. The picture below is from the Maryland DNR showing a commercial check station. Looks like an egg laden fish to me. Why don't they treat them like female crabs or lobsters? Well, because they can't.
In the Chesapeake Bay there are a variety of techniques allowed to commercially harvest striped bass. There's hook and line and netting, with floating or anchored gill nets used. Those fish are dead, usually, when they are harvested. That's one reason why the size limits are so small, otherwise they would all be killed, and then go under by-catch. Then there would have to be an allotment for by-catch or they would have to be discarded. If you were going to "take one for the table" or order one at your local favorite
"caught fresh" seafood restaurant is that the way you would expect it to look like as it's being harvested and kept "fresh"?. You can't sound the alarm about numbers being down, point the finger at conditions that are outside of our control, and then continue to allow fish to be harvested at a non-sustainable rate.
You can see the Md. 2023 commercial regulations for the CB above. It can't go on, the fish can't keep up with the rate of production vs harvest, or death from other means, poor spawning, pollution, predation, recreational fisheries, and just getting old and dying. Fish don't last forever.
We shall see what the ASMFc comes up with as far as changes to the recreational and commercial sectors this year. They may call for reductions, but in the end it will up to each state to show, or prove, that they are making cuts to fall within compliance, all to rebuild the fishery. Maybe striped bass just has to be taken off the table, either at the restaurants or in your house for a while.
And that brings me back to my theory of blaming the striped bass, just a bit. They have done this to themselves, kinda. They have changed the rules of engagement. I have talked about the changes in migration, like wintering over in spots that are not their natal rivers, the re-stocking efforts into rivers that don't support successful spawning, problems with over-harvesting on both sides of the aisle, and poor YOY or JAI survey results. But let's circle back to the striped bass and their decisions to stay north if you will.
Ethan Gordon photo
Look at the bass in Ethan Gordon's photo. Let's say they are Hudson River fish. One larger female and two smaller males. They enjoyed life in the fall of 023 chewing in the Raritan Bay and along northern Monmouth County. Each of them avoided being caught by both beach and boat anglers during the bunker blitzes. By mid-December they chose to meander up into the Hackensack for a long winters nap. During their slow-down stage the female's eggs are multiplying and the boys milt is being manufactured, it's just to set the stage, not the actual timelines.
When they wake up in late February spawning is on their minds, but they are hungry as well. They'll feed on river stuff, like mummichogs, and the female will feel the sting of a barbless hook when I get lucky one day. But soon the males will find her again and they'll make they're way out into Newark Bay. But, instead of going left and into the Hudson, she keeps the steering wheel straight and heads to the Raritan Bay as the scent of bunker has her thinking she'll bulk up and put some calories on before the 130 mile trek up the river. But the chew becomes more of her thinking then the screw. Her eggs are getting ripe and the males, still desperate and hanging with her, are like "WTF?", can we go yet? But she keeps eating, and just decides to take this year off. Frustrated the males split and she either releases her eggs into the dead spawning zone of the Raritan where the salt water just swells the eggs before they blow up, or they just get reabsorbed into her body.
Now many, many fish do what they are programmed to do, return to their natal rivers to keep the species going. But animals evolve. They change to survive. The problem is are striped bass smart enough to intellectualize that they need to "go home" and spawn in a river that, under the near perfect conditions, will support a successful spawn?
And while we look at other rivers that may hold fish, they don't mean the conditions are right. Striped bass need to spawn in freshwater and be days away from brackish or saltwater for the eggs and larvae to survive. So yes, let's say those Roanoke River stocked bass in the Navesink are all horned up and ready to go. The females may hold and release eggs as they are bumped by the males, but fertilization ain't happening and no babies are being born.
There are only a handful of rivers that may qualify as a spawning, or a potential spawning river. And when you look into candidate waters up north, they can't be all dammed up. Maybe, since the bass, or a lot of them, are acting like defiant kids and not doing what we expect of them, we need to reduce, or eliminate killing them, or look into reintroducing them into known or potential spawning rivers. The Kennebec seems to have been a good example of a successful stocking program, at least it started off good. I can't find current seine survey studies done since 2006. You can read more about the Kennebec River HERE.
And that's a wrap on this for me. I have enjoyed the messages and emails readers sent with opinions and comments on my various theories, as well as your own. The next thing I'm waiting for is the NJ/Pa. seine surveys of the Delaware River from 2023. That should complete the trifecta of bad news from the big three.