sO… WHAT NOW?
November 4, 2019
At its October 30th Meeting, the ASMFC Missed the Boat and decided to move forward with a slot limit of 1 fish per angler between 28” and 35”. I’ve been clear that I do not believe this is the best path forward, in fact I think it was the most detrimental option on the table for striped bass. But, this is where we stand now. Without diving into the political bullshit and the what should have / could have been implemented, I want to focus for a bit on what we all, as anglers, need to do as a result of these new regulations.
Catch & Release Best Practices
On the fishing front, the first and most important thing that comes to mind is that proper care of every striped bass that is hooked and caught is more important than ever. This is ESPECIALLY true for the larger females that this regulation is designed to protect. It is not rocket science or a surprise to anyone who has caught large, 40”+ striped bass that they don’t do as well when released than smaller fish. They fight longer, they tire more, and they’re often harder to get going again once it’s time to let them go. As a result, taking care of those fish that are caught to make sure they experience the least amount of stress possible and increasing their likelihood of survival is critical in ensuring that these new regulations are effective at all. This will be critical in places where large fish are often caught and kept (the Cape Cod Canal and SW corner of Block Island, for example). The regulations will not result in ANY change (except maybe a faster decline in population) if the large fish caught don’t survive the fight and release. We will have a few discussions over the winter about ‘best practices’ for catch & release, so stay tuned.
Fight Harder
On the regulation front, we need to fight harder. This is an especially depressing outcome given the outreach many of us made to the Commission, only to have that public comment ignored, however the big takeaway from looking at the public comments that were receive is the lack of participation by the striped bass angling community. Stripers are the most fished for fish on the east coast, and more than 90% of striped bass caught are released. Given the number of anglers who are catch & release fishing for these fish, slightly more than 600 comments received by the Commission during the public comment period is simply unacceptable.
It is not time to give up. There seems to be more support and more noise being made online than the commission is receiving. We need to use the awareness that was raised heading into the October 30 meeting and build on that momentum by continuing to speak up, louder than before, to make sure that the amendment that the Commission is going to explore beginning in 2020 results in positive change. Included in those efforts, we will want to emphasize that:
Striped bass need more protection
Conservation equivalency can not continue to be an option for states to find loopholes into killing more fish
Sustainability thresholds for striped bass biomass must not be lowered
The ASMFC must explore ways to increase its own accountability and follow its own mandate to REBUILD the stock within ten years of when a species is determined overfished.
The way the Commission is being run right now will not and cannot stand, and it is very clear there are forces behind the scenes that are not serving the best interests of the fish or the vast majority of the angling community and are driving the process. The only solution and only way we can help these fish survive is to double down on our efforts, make more noise, build on the momentum we all created leading into the October 30 meeting and continue generating a ground swell of support for more conservative regulations and management.
This will comprise educating, activating and empowering the majority of striped bass anglers who pursue striped bass on a catch & release basis and introducing new anglers and new voices to the wonders of these fish. Every voice matters, and together we can still make a difference.
For some other perspectives on what happened at the meetings, take a read through the below posts. They can help catch you up on where we stand, how the process works and what might be next as well.
https://currentseams.com/2019/10/31/three-major-takeaways-from-yesterdays-asmfc-vote/?fbclid=IwAR2sfgLxq_1yVpEj2DUF64IJj_vaPEpA5uWcekKZR83kcT8TrHTaTH9wVwo
https://saltwaterguidesassociation.com/striped-bass-comment-participation-and-conservation-equivalency/?fbclid=IwAR0sZoBqSTPukJabNeNhAOn7YS8u9wOFuMgT83hjQu1jHLw2Psm4vfmQOY0