Here it was, the original proposal from the ASMFC.
They were trying, or looking like they were trying, to take action. But be it New Jersey's own Adam Nowalsky to once again throw a monkey wrench into any type of progress moving forward. And you know what, he did. Not only did he throw the wrench at them, but he picked up and launched everything within reach, and when he was done throwing shit around he whipped it out and relieved himself all over the Management Board, all of us, and the striped bass.
He submitted an Addendum, that the Management Board had no doubt previously seen, or at least knew was coming, proposing things to remain status quo for 2025 with action to be taken in 2026, only after the 2025 ASMFC Annual Meeting which is held next fall. It's another way to kick the can down the road and do nothing and keep everything the same, keeping just a small percentage of the stockholders in striped bass, happy. Below is his original motion,
Now here's where we were, and could be today, before Nowalsky took over,
- No changes in the slot limit
- Make changes to achieve 9% reductions in BOTH commercial and recreational sectors
- Implementation of No Harvest closures, No Target Closures were off the table
- Waves determined in two geographical areas, Maine down to Rhode Island and Connecticut down to North Carolina.
- Implementation date is April 1, 2025
The plan was for the individual states, or maybe it's the states within those Waves, to come up with a plan to meet the Management Board's 9% reduction. Those plans to meet the reductions would have to be submitted, approved by the ASMFC, and then sent back to the states and put into law, and then implemented. The entire fisheries management bullshit always reminds when Jesus went in front of King Herod and then Pontius Pilate before he was crucified, neither of them wanting to make the tough decision. In the end it was the public who put Jesus to death. Well with the striped bass it's the ASMFC.
Listening to Nowalsky is like watching James Conway (Robert DeNiro) telling Karen Hill (Lorraine Bracco) in the movie Goodfella's, "Yep, right there, just keep walking, it's just around the corner". Basically setting her up to be killed the moment she enters the building. Nowalsky does a good job of setting people up before mowing them down and getting his way. And truth be told, he's got a lot of buddies out there, and some of them have some weight behind them.
I don't know why the ASMFC even gives him so much power. He comes across as having sense, and being genuine and believable but he is just setting everyone up with his monotone, condescending, and overly concerned and fake delivery. He's looking out for his for-hire buds and all the folks that like to harvest striped bass. And John Clarke from Delaware and Mike Luisi from Maryland came up right behind to help him out. And then he bought up a motion to amend the original Addendum regarding timing of the decisions which means implementation in 2026.
So as I understand this. Nowalsky was looking for a status quo for 2025 and then in 2025 coming up with plans to implement measures in 2026 to make the rebuild possible by 2029. And what that would mean is after the Addendum is tightened up sometime next spring it would have to go back out for public comment which would delay the entire process even more. This is the very reason why anglers don't submit public comments, because really no one really listens and no one trusts the ASMFC, no matter how nicely they put together a synopsis of all of the public comments that were submitted.
ITS JUST THE ASMFC KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD, AGAIN
Two hours in I started to think that the ASMFC and Adam Nowalsky were in cahoots. How did the Board come out with all these proposals only to have it all blown to shit by one guy, and his two buds, and his Addendum? And afterwards, and during all the discussions, the ASMFC just went along with it, forgetting about everything they reviewed in the submitted public comments and in their original plan. There was no emotion, and no frustration or anger that their original plan had been derailed, they just laid down and rolled over. Below was the amended version,
And then there was a lunch break. And then the commercials sector got all fired up to reduce their reduction from 9% to 1%, which failed. And that was around hour number three. Then they moved to amend it from 9% to 5%. Which passed. So commercials take less of a hit (%-wise) than the recreational sector. And then they discussed allowing size changes to be allowed in to meet the 9% reductions. I don't even know what the final answer on that was.
AND THEN I WAS DONE.
127 PM. Three and a half hours in. Didn't care what they were saying. Didn't care what they did. The ASMFC brought this on themselves. I can't even imagine what the 500 plus people who were tuned in were thinking as this went on. Really there was no public input. If you had a point or a question you raised your digital hand. If and when you were chosen you could only comment on the topic at hand, not the thing you really wanted to verbalize about that happened 90 minutes earlier.
This whole thing should have looked more like the Parliament session then a conversation between two high school lovers trying to negotiate how they might get to sneak out and meet up at the local Lover's Lane. There was no fire. No yelling. No cursing. And they should have been.
I had had enough. I stayed around and listened a little more as they discussed and voted on the final version of the Addendum. Looking at it it appears we're kinda back to CE (Conservation Equivalency), sort of, but it will go by Waves, groups of states, and not the individual states, unless, it comes down to area specific fisheries, like in New York, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. New Jersey will "take one for the team" and "punish" New Jersey fishermen by continuing to have a closed season in the bays and rivers in January and February and WILL CLOSE DOWN striped bass fishing in July and August which is during Wave 4. You know how many times you caught stripers in those months and how many party boats go out for them......zero.
220 PM- A vote was taken for a substitute motion made by Nichola Meserve to implement regulations by 2025 but that got shot down. That was the only chance the bass had. So it went back to Nowalsky's mess (below),
225 PM- The Addendum (above) was read. And the vote to initiate the Addendum....drum roll...and the vote....PASSED (14, 2, 0, 0). FOURTEEN TO TWO - the only no's came from Maine and New Hampshire.
230 PM - Meeting adjourned. The four and a half hour meeting was over three an a half minutes after the vote, because the who's got what they wanted.
So what does all that mean? Status quo in 2025, same regulations as in 2024.
No protecting the 2015 and 2018 year classes.
Same shit, different year.
