The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) meets this week at the Hyatt Place Dewey Beach at 1301 Coastal Highway in Dewey Beach, DE. I’m hoping to get down there on Wednesday when the Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board takes up Addendum III for final approval, as they vote on whether or not to take a 12% reduction on striped bass mortality beginning in 2026.
I personally attended both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania hearings and heard a lot of public comments on how to improve the striped bass fishery while addressing the rebuilding of spawning stock biomass (SSB). I’ll try to touch on some of those in next week’s Editors Log, but in terms of this week’s final vote there are really only four options that anglers were able to weigh-in on with regard to what’s been proposed.
Method to Measure Total Length of Striped Bass: Here in New Jersey, the rule is to lay the striper flat on top of a tape measure, squeeze the tail, and take the measurement from the closed mouth to the farthest extremity of the tail with the upper and lower forks squeezed together. Believe it or not, not all states do it the same way! This particular option would standardize how stripers are measured coastwide in both the commercial and recreational fisheries. No brainer!
Commercial Tagging: Point of Tagging: Along the Striper Coast, only four states – New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maine – are gamefish states with no commercial striper harvest allowed. In those states that do have a commercial striper fishery individual harvest tags are required. However, much like the measurement issue, there’s no coastwide standard as to when that commercial harvest tag is applied to each fish. I believe Massachusetts, Rhode Island and North Carolina allow commercial harvesters to apply the tag at the point of sale, whereas New York and other states tag fish either at the point of harvest or before actually offloading from the boat. Having a standard, especially at the time of harvest, would go a long way in eliminating underreported landings.
Maryland Chesapeake Bay Recreational Season Baseline: This one is rather complex as it relates to a whole series of seasonal closures and size limits in the Chesapeake throughout the season. Based on the outcome of the 12% reduction vote, Maryland may or may not modify their seasons with a new baseline for catch and release, harvest and “no targeting” periods. Public comment was being taken for either status quo with no new baseline season, favorability for a new recreational season baseline, or an option for new recreational season baseline with a 10% uncertainty buffer. What I find troubling is that Maryland gets some wiggle room in addressing their unique fishery while ocean states have had their autonomous authority through conservation equivalency taken away by the ASMFC.
Reduction in Fishery Removals to Support Stock Rebuilding: This is the big one of course, whether or not to reduce “fishery removals” starting in 2026 to increase the probability of rebuilding SSB by the 2029 deadline. Fishery removals means dead stripers, which includes those harvested, and those which suffer mortality from recreational catch and release, as well as commercial bycatch. For ocean recreational fisheries, since the slot limit is already so tight at 28 to 31 inches, only partial-season closures are being considered in the 12% reduction proposal.
It’s worth noting that had that reduction percentage come in at 10% instead of 12% it would’ve resulted in status quo. The ASMFC’s Technical Committee views the “uncertainty” in Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) estimates as unknown within 10%, which they explained “would not be statistically distinguishable from no reduction at all.”
Seriously, all this hand-wringing and acrimonious debate boils down to just two uncertain percentage points. Find the agenda and webinar details for this week’s meeting here.
