Striped Bass Need Help

There is little doubt that striped bass numbers along the Eastern Seaboard as a whole are in decline

Sep. 1, 2016

Editorial

If the striped bass population is in decline and what anglers, commercial harvesters, and regulators should do about it is a question worth asking as the fish head into their fall runs.

There are many in the sportfishing world who believe stripers should have game fish status, that is, no commercial harvest for sale. Others, notably including charter operators who depend on the fish for a significant part of their business, say the fishery is fine and should continue as is. And there are others who would like to see it become a catch-and-release-only fish.

There is little doubt that striped bass numbers along the Eastern Seaboard as a whole are in decline. The combined commercial and recreational take approached five million fish in 2015, according to federal figures. Additionally, the National Marine Fisheries Service has said that the number of female bass spawning stock is falling and approaching a danger point. Still, an Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission committee concluded last fall that striped bass was not being overexploited and did not make huge changes in size limits or quotas.

On the Atlantic Seaboard most of the striped bass take is by recreational anglers; commercial boats kill only about a quarter of the total each year, and, already, stripers cannot be sold if they are caught in federal waters, that is, beyond the state three-mile limit.

Among the groups pushing for game fish status is Stripers Forever. It sees a shift toward ever-smaller fish as an indication that the species is in trouble in the Atlantic. Its view is that the commercial take should be eliminated coastwide, preserving a limited harvest for anglers’ personal use. As has the commercial fishing industry, Stripers Forever has challenged regulators’ figures, alleging they are a mixture of statistics and conjecture, particularly regarding released fishes’ mortality rates.

As scientists, state officials, and advocacy groups battle it out, however, individual sport anglers should take steps to reduce the take. This means not always hauling home keeper-size stripers when they are landed and being as careful as possible to reduce the death rate among those thrown back. Books, tackle shop operators, and the internet can all be sources of how to improve the bass’s chances. Doing what we can to help assure the species’s survival for the long haul is the right approach.