07.30.25 Oh, I haven't forgot about the ASMFC....

 

     It's that time for the ASMFC summer meetings. Just as all the striped bass anglers, except for those chasing Block fish, are enjoying backyard BBQ's, fluke fishing, and chasing tails, tuna that is, the ASMFC will be moving forward to rebuild the striped bass by 2029, yeah okay. 

     I couldn't help but look back as to what the committee was fermenting for the August 6th meeting and couldn't help but notice the early pages in the document, the members of the management board. New Jersey has Joe Cimino, the AA, Jeff Kaelin, the GA, and then there's still Adam Nowalksy, the "Proxy" for Senator Vin Gopal. We can't seem to shake ourselves of Nowalsky, although the meat eaters and charter guys love him. 

     What's at stake? Well a lot. I'm not going to get all into it as I have before. But remember, the same people who punted and kept the regulations the same for 2025 from 2024 are the ones "trying" to rebuild the SSB by 2029. It's a joke. Are there good people there, yes, are they doing the right thing? Questionable. 

     So if you pour through what the MB and TC have been talking about things like size limits, or slots, and seasonal closures and no target/ no harvest are still on the table and will, or should, be ironed out by the end of the meetings. There's also things like mode splits, having different regulations for commercial and recreational and tagging for commercial operations. If you fish commercially every fish should be tagged and recored and reported, they want to get away from doing that. 

From the July meeting, 

     The "Waves" will be back in the discussion as far as having seasonal closures. What will seasonal closures mean? Well, in my opinion, it'll mean shutting the "season" down by weeks, or days. It won't be like no more fishing in New York and New Jersey after November 15th, it'll be odd days or weekend days sprinkled throughout the fall. That's just my gut. They'll also be talking about the Chesapeake fishery and no doubt the Maryland Charter Association and Delmarva Fisheries Association will be out in force following the lawsuits they filed and were ultimatley denied a hearing by the United States Supreme Court back in May. 

     Now, NY and NJ will fight the seasonal closures. New York doesn't "open" for bass until April 15th and New Jersey is closed inside January and February. You know, we are shut down in January to protect the striped bass here in New Jersey, right? C'mon man. Yes, there are big wintering over fish deep down in the channels ain and around the New York, Raritan, and Sandy Hook bays, but who would be targeting them for real during the winter? But those states will pitch that bitch. 

     Hey, New Jersey won! In 2024 we landed the most striped bass out of everyone else on the East Coast....36%. That means we killed the most between beating up on the slot fish and catch and release mortality. New York came in second at 25%. 

    What is a hoot is that all of this "science" and "data" is centered around the NOAA MRIP Fishing Effort Surveys (FES). I've talked about this and showed you what the survey looks like. It's volunteer and asked about number of trips and fish and fish kept and released. How many of you have been stopped on the dock, or the beach, and asked to fill one out? It's joke science. But "they" say, "It's better than what we used to use". Yeah, so was asbestos. 

     So, like I said, many of us are in summer mode. Not thinking about striped bass and most not fishing for them. We don't get all juiced up until September, well really October these days. So most of us won't care or react until it's too late. Below is the agenda for the August 6th meeting. 

     In the end to "rebuild" there will have to be reductions. They are looking at 50% and 60% as the percentage of the chance of rebuilding, and to do that you need -12% or -18% reductions, again, for a chance to rebuild. That's where closures, no- target, and no- harvest comes in. 

I'll keep you posted.