And we're off. This week the ASMFC holds their annual meeting. Over the course of three days they hear reports about all things fishing and related to fisheries management. Today was the report from the Technical Committee and Stock Assessment sub-committee. This is timely as it comes on the heels of the Chesapeake Bay JAI assessment which shows yet another poor year of recruitment (of young bass).
By chance I was coming out of another medical appointment at the 9/11 Mt. Sinai program so I was able to listen in live to the meeting which was live-streamed. Sadly, Theresa came along for support and had to endure the meeting, which is at times hard to follow, and frustrating depending who asks questions from the committee or from the audience.
I'm no expert in this stuff but I try and follow the "science" on where things are and where they may be heading. Today the Technical Committee read their report which included information from the Striped Bass Stock Assessment Subcommittee. As we know things are bad, no matter what the kind of days the boat guys in New Jersey and New York are reporting. Soon the beaches will look like opening
day of trout season when and if the bass crash the beaches. Right now it's a sand eel bite, which is prime for the boat angler. While finding those slot sized bass, 28-31", may be hard for some angler others are
finding them and they are making their way into the freezer and onto the table. But it's not good. Those 2015 year class fish are being decimated, albeit legally, but it isn't sustainable. And the SSB (Spawning Striped Bass) is in decline. Add to that the low recruitment numbers in YOY and juvenile fish in the big
spawning bays and rivers, Chesapeake, Hudson, and Delaware and it's just as bad as we think it is. everyone focuses on the Chesapeake because that is where 75- 90% of the striped bass come from. A lot of the data is hard to understand and follow. There are all kinds of terms, abbreviations and calculations that you need to know to get the big scientific picture.
So after the committees gather their data they present it to the Management Board who then decides how to manage the fishery. The last big management move was to put in the slot, and before that was the use of circle hooks when using bait, eliminating the snag and drop style of fishing.
While 2015 was the last "good" year, 2018 wasn't bad but then we have six years of bad spawning numbers. A 2015 year class fish will be about 33 inches and above, now out of that 28-31" slot. A 2018 year class fish will be about 28 inches, which puts them at the low end of the slot. This just isn't a good move. What do I think? In order to save the fish you have to stop killing the fish. So outside of a moratorium on striped bass fishing, both commercial and recreational, next year, during the May meetings the ASMFC is going to have to adjust the slot size, if they even allow targeting to happen.
I'm not sure what the below slide means but I do know during the meeting things like SSB, mortality, YOY and JAI were mentioned. Also mentioned were angler education, seasonal closures, and the hardship charter operations were enduring due to slots and closures (Chesapeake). Gear restrictions
are also being discussed in regards to fishing mortality from recreational anglers. What always gets me is when a species is OVERFISHED but OVERFISHING is not occurring. What does that even mean?
According to the ASMFC, "Overfished is used when fishing mortality is the primary cause of low biomass or abundance", while Overfishing, "Overfishing is said to be occurring if fishing is negatively affecting the stock by removing more fish than the stock can sustain, leading to reduced growth and/or recruitment" The ASMFC looks at targets, thresholds, and triggers to determine if and what is occurring. Since the 2023 SSB, which is 191 million pounds, is below the threshold of 197 million pounds, the fishery is said to be overfished. And when determining is overfishing is occurring they look at the F Threshold, which stands now at 0.21, but in 2023 it came in at 0.18. Soooo, overfishing is NOT occurring. But then we have a trigger target which is 0.17, which has been exceeded the last two years.
Don't get it? What are you stupid?
And if want to know who's killing these fish and how they opened with these numbers. Over 2022-2023 the average yearly striped bass kill was 6.18 million pounds of striped bass, up 20% from 2021. Recreational harvest release mortality was 40%. That means 40% of all the striped bass that were caught and released died. Recreational harvest came in at 49%. Commercial fisheries accounted for 10%, and commercial discard mortality came in at 0.5%. That's the science guys. I don't know how you get those numbers, but those are the numbers they are going with. Remember some of this scientific data comes in the way of angler surveys obtained from the Marine Recreational Information Program, or MRIP, which a lot of people have a problem with.
In the end they voted to have a special Management Board meeting in December 2024. That can only one thing, well two, will they move in the right direction, or punt as they usually do? The goal is to
rebuild the striped bass by 2029 and to do that some severe cuts all the way around must be considered. Below is another slide with some things up for consideration. What's interesting is the possibility of more
closures in the Chesapeake Bay, as well as Ocean closures. Also is the option to reduce the current size slot to below 28 inches, which would protect the 2018 year class, but in the end only hammer down on the last years classes which have had poor recruitment. Dead bass = less bass.
So that's where we are as far as the ASFMC goes. We'll see what happens in 2025 when they meet and come up with more "Emergency Actions" which are coming. Word on the street seasonal closures are low on their choice list as it would upset the political and financial end of the business of fish management. But more changes are coming. Don't laugh, 2025 may be the year of throwing flies with no hooks.
I must say this weather is beautiful and New York was in all its glory as we left the Lincoln Tunnel. I said to Theresa as I looked at the water on the Hudson, " I got to get out there on my boat". But that will
be in some time as I just got her back from the guy that bought the engine. Time to start thinking about getting that tank and the deck redone in time, for well, South Carolina.