The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) will hold their spring meeting from May 5-8, 2025 at The Westin Crystal City at 1800 Richmond Highway in Arlington, VA. This will be a hybrid meeting (both in-person and remote) to allow for participation by Commissioners and interested stakeholders, both in-person and online. Hardcore striped bass and tautog anglers should take note of a couple of key management discussions.
On Tuesday, May 6 from 1:15 to 5:15 p.m. the ASMFC’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board will convene to discuss the 2027 Benchmark Stock Assessment on striped bass, while also considering for public comment Draft Addendum III on proposed striped bass management measures for 2026. Last year the Board had considered implementing a series of seasonal closures along the Striper Coast to begin in 2026, but they ultimately voted to maintain status quo measures for 2025, initiating an addendum to consider 2026 management measures to support stock rebuilding.
Management work on the 2027 Benchmark Stock Assessment for Atlantic striped bass will is underway, with the final assessment scheduled for peer review through the Northeast Research Track assessment process in March 2027. Those findings will be presented to the Board sometime in 2027. According to the ASMFC, the next benchmark assessment for striped bass will include data through 2025, “including the re-calibrated MRIP time series expected to be released in spring of 2026 based on NOAA Fisheries’ evaluation of potential bias in the Fishing Effort Survey.”
At the upcoming May 6th meeting in Virginia, the Board is also expected to consider a Massachusetts Conservation Equivalency Proposal for size limit adjustments in the state’s commercial striped bass fishery.
Then on Wednesday, May 7 from 4:15 p.m. to 5 p.m. the ASFMC’s Tautog Management Board will convene to discuss the progress of the 2025 tautog stock assessment. Members of the board will also be reviewing a Technical Committee report on a New York study of alternative commercial tags used in the harvest and sale of blackfish. For details and webinar link go to ASMFC.org.
Just as the spring meeting of the ASMFC comes to a close on Thursday, May 8, the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council will be firing up the “hybrid” meeting materials at the Galloway Township Branch of the Atlantic County Library at 306 East Jimmie Leeds Road. That meeting is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. For details call 609-292-7794.
