Recreational anglers got another big break this week with the rejection of the proposed increase in the commercial striped bass quota.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASFMC) rejected the proposal on Tuesday with a final vote of 10-4-1 in favor of status quo. It was supported by Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
States that supported measures to increase the commercial harvest of striped bass were North Carolina, Delaware, Rhode Island and New York. The ASMFC representative from the District of Columbia was absent for the vote and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission voted to abstain.
In 2007, President George W. Bush issued an executive order declaring gamefish status for the striped bass and barring commercial harvest in federal waters. Despite their gamefish status, striped bass populations in the Atlantic are subject to significant and unreported poaching. Additionally, menhaden, an important prey species for striped bass, has reached its lowest abundance in recorded history as a result of commercial overharvesting.
“We’re pleased that there’s no commercial increase,” said Jim Donofrio Executive Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA). “But as we’ve said all along there was no need for any increase in either the commercial or recreational sector, not when there are so many questions with regard to the illegal and unreported harvest we know to be taking place in federal waters,”
Donofrio cited evidence from federal enforcement authorities over the past two seasons of a number of striped bass harvest violations in federal waters off North Carolina in January and February when big breeding size fish are staging several miles off Carolina’s Outer Banks.
Donofrio also said it’s illegal for any striped bass to be harvested outside of three miles from shore, whether commercial or recreational.
The Atlantic striped bass fishery has experienced several declines over the past few decades. Though the fishery has shown a tremendous recovery since the 1980s, numerous reports have noted decreased catches over the last several years.
“This addendum angered and shocked anglers from the outset,” said American Sportfishing Association Vice President Gordon Robertson. “Atlantic striped bass stocks are being threatened from several different fronts. In addition to illegal harvest in federal waters, more than 70 percent of striped bass are afflicted by the deadly disease Mycobacteriosis in the Chesapeake Bay, the stock’s primary spawning ground. Any increase in commercial fishing pressure in state waters could lead to a collapse for this economically and recreationally important fishery.”