Spring 2020 Striped Bass Regulations

[CarsonNash]

DNR released the spring regs for rockfish last night... link below.

https://news.maryland.gov/dnr/2020/0...r-spring-2020/

As you can imagine the Facebook comments were a little all over the place.

Looks like the state is dragging their feet, but let me know what you think.

[ronaultmtd]

We have been actively involved in our public comments prior to the adoption of the regs- which were ignored by DNR...shame the recreational anglers are taking all the hits...even more of a shame is the regs do little to actually help the species. But, we will continue to launch our kayak only we won’t be fishing for Stripers...that train has left the station. Time to sell those striped bass lures and such...white perch, redfish, speckled trout and later Spanish macks...catfish are a year round fishery...might target some snakeheads this year, but the iconic Maryland fish is off the board for me...

[Memory Maker]

Repeat after me 100 times ......... ROCKFISH GAMEFISH .......... ROCKFISH GAMEFISH ........ ROCKFISH GAMEFISH ..... now repeat it often

[bluefishnc]

PRFC is voting in early March on the Potomac regs. I think the 3 options are something like Option 1: 1 fish over 18" May 16 to Dec. Option 2: 2 fish over 20 May 16 to July 1, moratorium/no targeting til late Aug then 2 x fish over 20" until Dec, Option 3: 2 fish over 20" until July 10th or so then moratorium/no targeting until late August then 2 x fish over 20" until December.

I wrote in supporting option 1. I could support any I guess but I don't like the idea of the moratorium/no targeting since it will be all but impossible to enforce and as an inshore fisherman it would effectively kill any fishing I might try to do in the Summer months since reds, trout, and striper all hit the same lures in the same water. I'm not sure how you don't "target" striper inshore. Yeah I can change my retrieve and slow it down which I would do for reds and trout but I'm still gonna catch a fair number of convicts.

[Memory Maker]

ROCKFISH GAMEFISH .......... The ONLY way this bullshit will stop is to make Stripers a gamefish .......

[DOGFISH]

I agree!!!

[Mark]

This link from the ASMFC provides interesting statistics about the commercial vs. recreational striped bass fishery.

http://www.asmfc.org/species/atlantic-striped-bass

In looking at them, I can understand the reluctance to make striped bass a gamefish. Vastly more striped bass succumb to recreational anglers than commercial fisherman. That defies conventional logic. It's easy to think/believe that commercial anglers are scooping up the majority of striped bass. But that's not even close to the truth.

The problem that has most recently come to light is the matter of discards -- fish that die after being released by recreational anglers. (Note the incredibly high number of striper catches released in the above link.) Not only do recreational anglers catch more stripers than commercial fishermen, they kill more stripers inadvertently than commercial anglers catch during catch and release. That's why the regulators are looking primarily to the recreational sector to help sustain the biomass.

The major differences in opinion now appear to be the utility of closing portions of MD's early spring cold water striper fishery when catch and release fishing is less like to create discards and which summer months to prevent striper fishing, again to due to studies which show higher numbers of warm water discards.

[Big Mike]

I took a deeper dive look at the graphic after reading the words and tried to understand specifically what was going on in Maryland. In 2017 56% of commercial weight and 77% of commercial numbers came from Maryland. In 2017 they reported a total of 592,576 commercial catches, so 456,000 came from Maryland. Weight wise 4,600,000 pounds we’re caught in aggregate and Maryland made up 2,576,000 pounds of that. (5.6 lb average weight per fish in Maryland which corresponds to a 21” or so fish). Recreational fishermen caught 3,200,000 in 2017 but Maryland was only 37% of that or 1,184,000 fish. So rather than the overall 3 to 1 ratio the graph depicts for recreational to commercial across the seaboard, it’s closer to 2 to 1 (1,184,000/456,000) in Maryland.

The graph also attributes catch and release as the basis for mortality with virtually no deaths attributable to commercial throwbacks, a highly implausible scenario. How many untended pound nets have you seen on the water? I’ve seen many.

Yes, things need to change, but to leave Maryland commercial guys virtually untouched when they’re catching a much higher percentage relative to recreational than any other state is disingenuous at best.

Don’t get me started on the charter boys getting to keep 2 because nobody would pay to go out if they only keep 1 (not counting of course the extra fish they keep from the “crew” allotment).