01.24.24 Today's a big day if you're a striped bass...

     

     Today's a big day if you're a striped bass. Down in Arlington Virginia the ASMFC is holding their winter meetings from Jan 23-25th. Today the Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board will meet. You can look at the agenda above. 

     Let me preface this that this is just my understanding of it all. Through the fall the ASMFC held public meetings both virtually and in-person to get public opinion on the options presented for Addendum II to Amendment 7. Some have questioned the genuineness of having virtual meetings over in-person and having them with difficult start times during the week. The sole New Jersey's in-person meeting was held in Stafford Township? Where's Stafford, New Jersey? So, the participation was kinda low. 

     Below is the breakdown of the responses during the public comment period. Like they say, and I have shared, basically the form letters get, well, overlooked. They don't like, like most organizations don't, form letters because they can be thought of just being mass produced and submitted. It's like the 

controversy that mail-in ballots get. Just follow the news on that and you'll see what I mean. So they had 459 individual letters, or emails, and 35 organizations that wrote in voicing their opinions, in addition to the 1,618 form letters. I attended the virtual meeting in New Jersey and listened to the opinions, and some, on both sides, on option choices, were presented well. That's democracy. Those comments are what the ASMFC should consider when making recommendations to rebuild the fishery by 2029. But we know that's not going to happen. 

     The elephant in the room today will be the poor YOY recruitment found in all of the big spawning waters in 2023. To date, I have not seen New Jersey's or Pennsy's Delaware River survey results from 2023, but I heard New Jersey's was poor, like real bad. I hope to see that soon. 

     This week I saw, and was sent the link to, the below post from the Fisherman's Inn down in Grasonville, Maryland. You know that the Chesapeake has the biggest commercial fishery for striped 

bass of various sizes. I have posted the size limits with corresponding locations around the Chesapeake Bay on earlier posts, but it's not easy to follow. But you can see above these are fresh gill-netted striped bass recently caught off of Kent Island. That area is near the Memorial Bay Bridge (Route 50).

     I checked out the menu at the Fisherman's Inn Restaurant. They offer striped bass, or as they call them down there, rockfish, in a variety of ways. You can start out with a rockfish app of rockfish "bites"

for $12.99 or have a main entree which will set you back between $30.99 to $41.99. Some of the dishes come with what I would assume is Maryland blue claw lump crabmeat. I don't know how I feel about it

all. Maybe I could be down with "some" local commercial fishing, if at all, to feed local restaurants? It's the big operations, that catch and ship, mostly by netting, that I feel may be harder for me to swallow. To be honest, I don't think you'll ever see a Gamefish Status in some of these states, which means no commercial fishing for striped bass or rockfish. So, there needs to be sustainable harvests,  but I wish it didn't have to happen, for the bass to have a chance at survival. 

     If you also look at the agenda you will see that New Jersey is about to be put on the hot seat. On the docket is the New Jersey Alternative Management Proposal. I'm sure that'll include discussions about the Bonus Tag Program we have here. Again, in 1990, or about that, we abolished commercial fishing here in New Jersey waters and went to a CE (Conservation Equivalency) by allowing recreational anglers to harvest "additional" striped bass. Proponents say what bass are killed now is far less than would be if we still had a commercial fishery. So there's a lot of shit to go down at that meeting. 

     And another thing that continues to surprise me is that New York anglers fishing the Hudson River north of the George Washington Bridge can still fish for river herring and use them for bait. I thought the shutdown of that fishery, which I think occurred here in New Jersey in the Delaware River around 2012, was a big country-wide thing? Like they are in danger of extinction kind of thing? I'm surprised those practices are still allowed for some. Rules for some here, but not over there. 

     I wonder, before we get to a moratorium, if there should be consideration in reducing the tactics and gear that are allowed to be used for striped bass. I'm not picking on bait or spin anglers, but, could we take some actions on our own to reduce pressure and mortality. No? Like think about it. 

     This past year I saw a lot of posts and reports about anglers having good results using baits called "NLBN"s, which means "No Live Bait Needed". Is there something there? I have often joked with a friend who is involved in the bunker fight that he has single-handedly killed the striped bass off in the meantime. The resurgence of menhaden brought out a huge, huge, snag and drop fishery. Remember when the bunker came back and it was one fish 28-38 inches and another over 43 inches? It was a striped bass beatdown on live bait. Luckily, they made the use circle hooks when live bait fishing the law. However, some argue that the use of 10/0 snag and drop hooks causes less damage and mortality. How many fish would not have been caught in 2023 if anglers weren't using "livies" in, under, and around bunker schools? C'mon admit it. And not to pick on the menhaden, pogy, bunker guys but how about adding to that the use of live eels? How many stupid huge bass are hoisted from the deep ravines down near the center of the earth each year? Not picking, just sayin".

    So maybe there is something there? Ban the use of live bait when fishing for striped bass? It's got to be better than a moratorium. Maybe requiring, or banning, the use of treble hooks on plugs? Barbless only? Yes, but you could still fish? Isn't that what this sport is all about, fishing first, catching second? Might you catch less? Probably, but I'd rather fish and not catch than not fish at all. 

     Below is the electronics that were around about the time of the moratorium. Just. Plain. Simple. Now we have all kinds of side scan and this and that. How do the fish have a chance? Add spot lock on your trolling motor and like really? How can the playing field be level for man vs bass? Add to that all of the 

advances in gear. I swear some of those 11 ft spinning rods can cast 1,000 feet off the beach. And then there's the technology, again the fish finders, weather and tide apps, psychic friends network, the social media and the forums, and again, how do the striped bass avoid the constant pressure? And the boats, imagine if we banned boat fishing for a while? No trolling? I know, crazy, not good, not fair, Colin shut-up, but...what is the alternative? Kill them all? 

     And you know my take on some of the responsibility falling back on the striped bass themselves. They are changing the game. Making changes. Adapting, or not. I teach that some mental health illnesses are generally caused by adaptive or maladaptive behaviors. Are the choices the striped bass making just, well, dooming themselves in the end? 

     As they change, we need to change. Maybe some of the above might be things up for consideration one day. I remember over a decade ago standing up at an Asbury Park Fishing Club meeting and suggesting a catch and release tournament, rather than the kill tournaments. I was almost laughed out of the room. Now all the clubs run them. Do we need to shut down the spring Raritan Bay fishery? Seasonal closures? Or partial seasonal closures? Maybe shut down all of the big spawning rivers for a few years? That would suck, but, would it help? Isn't that what we're looking for? 

     NIMBY, "Not in my backyard", has been a thing that's been around for decades, if not longer. No one wants the group home next door, or the place of worship or school, or the sewer treatment plant, or the strip club. When it comes to trying to fix or save something maybe we need to not expect others to make change, but look inward and ask what are we, or I, doing myself to make change? What I am willing to sacrifice for the better good? In this case the good is trying to save the striped bass. 

It's about to get real down in Virginia, and New Jersey is gonna have some 'splainin to do.