Striped bass young of the year index released today

[J.A. Veil]

Each year the Maryland DNR does a series of fish collections to see how many small first year rockfish they catch. They have been doing this for many years. Today the 2013 young of the year index was released.

This text is from DNR press release at: http://news.maryland.gov/dnr/2013/10...d-bass-survey/

"The Maryland Department of Natural Resources today announced that the 2013 Striped Bass juvenile index ─ a measure of Striped Bass spawning success in Chesapeake Bay ─ is 5.8, a substantial increase over last year’s results of 0.9, but below the 60-year average of 11.7."

Having sub-average values two years in a row is not good news.

[HJS]

VIMS (Vir. Inst. of Marine Science) does a similar study on their portion of the Bay. They released their survey results today as well. They are showing an average year for striper reproduction in Virginia waters..

http://www.vims.edu/newsandevents/to...ey_results.php

[Mark]

Why were the Maryland numbers so consistently low from 1971 to 1989? The article said the success of the spawn depends on environmental factors such as salinity, water temperature and flow rates. It does not seem possible that environmental factors were subpar for 19 straight years. Was something else going on at that time to decrease striper reproduction?

[jffoley]

Why were the Maryland numbers so consistently low from 1971 to 1989? The article said the success of the spawn depends on environmental factors such as salinity, water temperature and flow rates. It does not seem possible that environmental factors were subpar for 19 straight years. Was something else going on at that time to decrease striper reproduction?

Overfishing, poaching (both rec and comm), pound nets, gill nets, ghost nets...

[Memory Maker]

Hurricane Agnes happened in 1972 ........ It destroyed the spawning ground grasses on the flats and the whole area ......... This also greatly diminished the conditions for spawning

Why were the Maryland numbers so consistently low from 1971 to 1989? The article said the success of the spawn depends on environmental factors such as salinity, water temperature and flow rates. It does not seem possible that environmental factors were subpar for 19 straight years. Was something else going on at that time to decrease striper reproduction?

[Southerly]

<del>

it's been quite awhile since I read it, but there's a pretty decent book on politics of the crash and recovery, and how to catch them too - http://www.amazon.com/Chesapeake-Str...s=striped+bass

[HJS]

Hurricane Agnes happened in 1972 ........ It destroyed the spawning ground grasses on the flats and the whole area ......... This also greatly diminished the conditions for spawning

Hurricane Agnes was the biggie and had a mega impact on the Bay. But through the 1970s and into the 1980s there were a couple more lesser hurricanes that made a direct hit on the mid-Atlantic region and caused significant flooding. All of them together put a serious crimp into the Bay's ecosystem. So add "hurricanes" to what jffoley said.

[Mark]

Thank you.

I just placed a hold on the Walters' book at the A. A. County Library.