Don't mess around with those Jersey Boyz and their striped bass fishing. If you try and mess around with it they will surely let you know how they feel....crickets, crickets, silence. Way to represent New Jersey. This shows me there are no New Jersey based Eagles fans who fish for striped bass.
So the ASMFC went ahead and tallied all of the outrage in the form of public comments submitted by December 10th, six days before today's ASMFC Management Board meeting. I'm all ready for today and luckily there's no school as my students sit for their final exam tomorrow. I have my invite and popcorn ready for todays meeting.
So let me break it down for you. There were 4,360 written comments regarding the striped bass regulations for 2025. Hey, you can be all kinds of pissed off about the striped bass but if the people managing it don't know how and why you feel some way how can they act and how can you complain? Do I think the decision was already made? No. Leaning in a direction? Yes. Swayed a tad by public comment? Absolutely. And that's why writing in matters. You can see it all HERE.
How did we do? Of the 4,360 comments, 1,621 came from individuals, 976 came in the way of form letters, 40 organizations sent along their thoughts, and 1,723 signatures came from one organization, that would be the the ASGA (Atlantic Saltwater Guides Association). What "Organization Signatories" means is that one letter from the ASGA was submitted and 1,723 signed on. I was one of the 1,723 but also submitted an individual public comment as seen below. You can click on it to read it.
There were 21 pages listing the names of the people that signed a form letter, joined in with an organization, or wrote in a public comment. They were listed in order by first name and included what state they were from. I scrolled though those pages and of all the names and New Jersey was represented a lousy 178 individuals. That means less than 200 striped bass fishermen
from the Garden State cared enough to put their disappointment and outrage into how the striped bass are managed down in a signature or a comment. I've seen the New Jersey names, and I might have recognized less than 10 of them. If I was the ASMFC I wouldn't be scared of closing down New Jersey's fishery during Waves 5 and 6, ....."They don't care!". They're worried about pissing off less than 200 people? Some would say about the meetings and the public comments periods, "Not everyone knew about it......" Whatever. You sure don't miss that blitz though when your phone rings.
For those 4,360 who did get involved here's what they said,
While New Jersey voices were few the ASMFC did go on to explain how the overall theme in the comments was that seasonal closures aren't a good thing in New Jersey. Those < 200 people would really
be affected in a bad way. For them to pull that out of the public comments make me think they are being swayed away from at lease a seasonal No Target. That way we can still "Caught our limit and played with another 200". How about you catch two and go home? They did also explain that if seasonal closures were implemented they should be done during the spring spawning season....does that mean they'll close the Raritan Bay down? Not a bad thing for those pre-spawn Hudson fish.
But the biggest win was a list they comprised and was seen at the end of the document. It made me happy. It basically pulled out the high points of everything in my public comment and things I've said for years. Those points are,
- Support for a moratorium until recovery, or permanently (Catch and release only!!!!)
- Research the reasons for low recruitment (Throw stocking programs in there)
- Additional gear restrictions (ban treble hooks, require barbless hooks) their words...
- Increase angler best handling practices
- MANAGE FOR HIRE MODE SEPARATELY FROM RECREATIONAL SECTOR
What's the win, for me? That these things are even being mentioned. Getting those words out there and in the ASMFC's ears is the first step of making changes. Can you just imagine if we all went to single barbless hooks? Would that help reduce the catch and release mortality rate out there? C'mon you spin guys please be honest. "Wow, she inhaled that plug", um great.
Well today is going to be a hoot. I'll have a recap tomorrow but I'm not going to revamp the entire meeting or screen shot every slide. You want my predictions for today,
- They will not remain status quo
They will,
- Change the slot, as much as I hate going bigger, I don't like going smaller. There will be a slot to give the cry babies a binky to suck on as they disclose the below changes,
- Implement a No Target closure - somewhere, during some Wave
- Implement a No Harvest closure- somewhere, during some Wave
What I don't want is any type of CE (Conservation Equivalency), that's where the ASMFC orders the states to show how they will reduce mortality by 14% to meet the 2029 deadlines. Then any changes would have to be put into individual state laws and implemented.
The commercial sector will be taking a hit equal to the recreational sector by a percentage reduction.
I think there's going to be a lot of butthurt people on the East Coast tomorrow. And in New Jersey that might mean a portion of the 178 who wrote in. Stay tuned.