On November 7, 2022, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) convened in Long Branch, NJ for their 80th annual meeting. In town to monitor the fisheries discussion was Mike Waine, Atlantic Fisheries Policy Director for the American Sportfishing Association (ASA). Just a few hours before ASMFC revealed that the striped bass fishery is no longer experiencing overfishing – although it does remain overfished relative to the updated biological reference points – Waine joined fellow ASA staffer Gary Jennings with Keep Florida Fishing, as well as John DePersenaire, Sustainability Officer for Viking Yachts, for a morning of striper fishing aboard Capt. Brian Rice’s Jersey Devil charters out of the Navesink River in New Jersey.
The Fisherman’s Jim Hutchinson tagged along for a unique trip in which our sportfishing industry advocates get to spend a little time together outside the boardrooms and in the cockpit during an epic bite on jumbo striped bass off the Jersey Shore. It’s also a great opportunity for Atlantic Coastal anglers to get to know ASA’s Mike Waine, who was formerly Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator at ASMFC where he lived and breathed striped bass every day.
Is striped bass America’s fish? Using history as a guide, perhaps it is!
ASMFC Finds Striped Bass Overfished, But Overfishing Not Occurring
