Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) announced that Delaware’s recreational striped bass size limit regulation has been revised effective May 21 to ensure compliance with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) emergency action taken earlier this month. The revision changes the recreational striped bass size limit from a slot of 28 to 35 inches to a smaller 28- to 31-inch slot.
According to the DNREC announcement, the emergency action by ASMFC does not affect Delaware’s summer striped bass slot season which allows anglers fishing Delaware River, Delaware Bay, and the tidal tributaries of the river and bay to possess one striped bass 20 to 25 inches long daily from July 1 through Aug. 31.
The emergency 31-inch maximum size limit slot for 2023 is expected to reduce harvest of the strong 2015-year striped bass class, which DNREC said “will enable the opportunity for more fish from the exceptional 2015 to spawn.” There is no change through ASMFC’s emergency or DNREC’s regulatory revision to Delaware’s one-striped bass possession limit or to the recreational striper season, which is open year-round.
The new size limit can be found in the online version of the 2023 Delaware Fishing Guide. For more information about the revised regulation, anglers can call the DNREC Fisheries Section at 739-9914.
