Help Save The Striped Bass - Take The Pledge

[Hemingway]

This is a tough one because me and the wife eat a lot of fish over the course of a year, with bass being a stable, but I'll be doing my part for the better of the fishery and reducing harvest. Keeping more dogfish instead, I guess...

Brian, I know what you are saying...my wife's favorite recipe is rockfish stuffed with crab meat. Hopefully if we can all tough it out for a year or two on the striped bass then the resource will have the breed stock for sustainability. I know by fishing with you that you are a good steward of the resource and a very ethical sportsman. Guess we might have to eat blackened redfish a little more this year

[chex]

I dont understand why they cant just farm the Stripers like any other Fish. even tho they are "migratory" there is a group of stripers that only stay in the Chesapeake.

You might be surprised to learn that most striped bass offered in restaurants are farm-raised. They're getting very good at it. The trick is to develop fish that can thrive on vegetarian diets. If you have to kill a whole bunch of menhaden to feed the bass, then you're not really doing any good. They're getting close to having farm-raised tuna too. (I was told this by a CCA director, have not looked for printed source)

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/disc...farm-video.htm

[buzz]

yeah... what chex said...

I dont understand why they cant just farm the Stripers like any other Fish. even tho they are "migratory" there is a group of stripers that only stay in the Chesapeake.

They already do. That's where they get the hybrid striped bass for stocking lakes like Lake Anna and such. These hybrids are not migratory and do well living in fresh water only.

[Mark]

Redfish,

I do not know precisely how the recreational number is calculated. I asked that very question at a CCA meeting and the answer was that it is derived from surveys of recreational anglers. If you recall, we had to report our striper catches at the CBKA tournament. I imagine those numbers went to the DNR.

Yes, I have read that the DNR assumes a 9% mortality for catch and release.

Fisheries science is certainly not exact and if you delve into any of the reports by the DNR and ASMFC the mathematics in them will boggle your mind unless you hold a graduate degree in statistics.

[chex]

I was once interviewed upon returning to the kipto launch. I was asked how long I was out, how many and what I caught, and how many I kept. If that's part of how they gather the info, it's bound to be inexact. I did not keep any fish that day, even though I did the next. Maybe charter boats have to report catches. They certainly account for a lot of keepers.

[Kiko]

I do not believe that there are any hybrid striped bass in Lake Anna....yet. It is being considered. Striped bass "Morone saxatilis" are stocked in Lake Anna annually by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.- ASSESSING STRIPED BASS HABITAT IN LAKE ANNA, VA, Walter S. Via, 12/2/2012. They are the same stripers as we have in the bay.

The state of the stripers in the bay is suspect at best. Even if I keep one, it won't be a big breeder. Those days are long gone for me.

There is a lot of finger pointing (netters, hook and liners, Omega, recreationals, weather, chicken farms etc, etc) going on but if we don't start being smart about this, we will go into another moratorium and who knows if the stock will come back.

Personally, I prefer to eat white perch....

Ernie

[camelbird]

I really like the idea, I say zero as well

Just curious.... does anyone know how much money is involved in the chesapeake bay commercial vs recreational rockfishing industries? Which agencies/companies are involved in making/approving of the laws/quotas? Are there lobbyists? Who all benefits from the laws and how much do they benefit (in dollars)? Are the agencies who issue fish consumption level advisories involved with the above?

[Kiko]

CCA-MD's Ex. Dir. Tony Friedrich has all of these stats and numbers. They (CCA) are very active in Annapolis as well as with fisheries management.

Ernie

[dsiekman]

I really like the idea, I say zero as well

Just curious.... does anyone know how much money is involved in the chesapeake bay commercial vs recreational rockfishing industries? Which agencies/companies are involved in making/approving of the laws/quotas? Are there lobbyists? Who all benefits from the laws and how much do they benefit (in dollars)? Are the agencies who issue fish consumption level advisories involved with the above?

My understanding is that the commercial guys have a VERY powerful lobby at the state level, not sure about the federal level.

+1 on no nets in the bay. Personally, I don't mind paying a little more for fish if I am going to buy it in the store or at a restaurant.

I need to look at the percentages on commercial vs. recreational. I thought I had heard that the commercial guys accounted for a much higher percentage of the catch.

[DOGFISH]

About all of this eating of Atlantic stripers, there is still a health advisory about striper consumption. The last I heard, was no more than two servings a month. I think the culprit is PCBs. It rises within the food chain.

Just think how much more the tackle shops and charter boats would make if stripers were a sport fish.

Remember the varied opinions that you might hear in this thread. Then remember that the commercial fisherman speak with one voice and remain in rank, with regard to this issue.

Crabs. It is not that the stripers are eating the crabs in greater numbers. The crabs do not have a place to sluff. How many people on the forum actually remember when the bay, its creeks and its tributaries were ringed with seaweed. The shoreline had a thick mat of seaweed from 25 to 50 yards out from the shore, depending upon depth. That is the reason why the crabs are having such a problem. It is a wonder they are doing as well as they are. Those weed lines were a nursery to many fishes, as well as a filter. The Chespeake Bay is a dying system. I have watched it happen over my 61 years. If anyone tells you that the fishing is as good now as it has ever been, that is BS. When I was a kid the fishing and crabbing was far superior than what it is today. There were plenty of yellow perch, sunfish and crabs along the grass, and yes, even more white perch. As a kid I could always catch plenty of rockfish, even back in the creeks. I could catch enough grass shrimp for a whole day of fishing with two or three dips of a net. Hell a common aggregate for dirt roads was oyster shell. That is how the oysters have diminished in just my lifetime. The sad thing is, as a boy, I can still remember the old timers saying how the bay "is not what it used to be." As conditions in the bay change and the generations continue, we tend to forget or much less even expect things to return, to what one may have never known. It has come down to fighting over diminishing resources. So when you talk about mom and pop tackle shops, families eating fish or catch limits or anything else, no one seems to remember what the bay use to be like. Hell, there used to be small tackle shops all over the area. For me its a sad memory, that I will never see again. So what most should do, is to do some reading into what the bay used to be like. Then you may know what to expect, or what was even possible. ...and yes, that may even include some of the fisheries biologist.

[Memory Maker]

About all of this eating of Atlantic stripers, there is still a health advisory about striper consumption. The last I heard, was no more than two servings a month. I think the culprit is PCBs. It rises within the food chain.

Just think how much more the tackle shops and charter boats would make if stripers were a sport fish.

Remember the varied opinions that you might hear in this thread. Then remember that the commercial fisherman speak with one voice and remain in rank, with regard to this issue.

Crabs. It is not that the stripers are eating the crabs in greater numbers. The crabs do not have a place to sluff. How many people on the forum actually remember when the bay, its creeks and its tributaries were ringed with seaweed. The shoreline had a thick mat of seaweed from 25 to 50 yards out from the shore, depending upon depth. That is the reason why the crabs are having such a problem. It is a wonder they are doing as well as they are. Those weed lines were a nursery to many fishes, as well as a filter. The Chespeake Bay is a dying system. I have watched it happen over my 61 years. If anyone tells you that the fishing is as good now as it has ever been, that is BS. When I was a kid the fishing and crabbing was far superior than what it is today. There were plenty of yellow perch, sunfish and crabs along the grass, and yes, even more white perch. As a kid I could always catch plenty of rockfish, even back in the creeks. I could catch enough grass shrimp for a whole day of fishing with two or three dips of a net. Hell a common aggregate for dirt roads was oyster shell. That is how the oysters have diminished in just my lifetime. The sad thing is, as a boy, I can still remember the old timers saying how the bay "is not what is used to be." As conditions in the bay change and the generations continue, we tend to forget or much less even expect things to return, to what one may have never known. It has come down to fighting over diminishing resources. So when you talk about mom and pop tackle shops, families eating fish or catch limits or anything else. No one seems to remember what the bay use to be like. Hell, there used to be small tackle shops all over the area. For me its a sad memory, that I will never see again. So what most should do, is to do some reading into what the bay used to be like. Then you may know what to expect, or what was even possible. ...and yes, that may even include some of the fisheries biologist.

+1

[chex]

Rec vs Comm: http://grab.by/tlBu

From http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries.../2014quota.pdf

[camelbird]

Really good note, Don

[Redfish12]

CCA MD does not participate in forums, but they did address some of our comments in an email!!!

Hello from CCA,
First and foremost I would like to say how much I like this group of anglers. In my interactions at various tournaments and events, I have found this group to not only be awesome fishermen but true conservationists. There are a lot of great questions on here and I would like to take the time to answer a few.
First, recreational numbers are based on survey responses, charter logs, and dockside interviews. If you have ever had a statistics course, you understand that you don’t need a huge sample to extrapolate decent information. We will never be able to count every fish and we have to accept the best science available. Along the same lines, we also believe that if you think something is broken, don’t complain… fix it from the inside. That’s why we participate in the fisheries management process on the local, state, and interstate levels. We have chapters on both coasts from Texas to Maine and Oregon and Washington. I am only saying this because the rec numbers will never be perfect and we are working to make them better. We must have more accountability in the process. Take a look at the Snook Foundation under angler action. This system is working in Florida and providing managers with the best data they have ever had on snook. This is just a glimpse of the future and I am only discussing it because good questions were asked regarding recreational catch numbers. This is one awesome solution we are examining.
I would also like to point out that this is a voluntary effort. If you like to eat fish, that’s OK! We aren’t condemning someone for doing something that is perfectly legal. This movement would be a complete success if it simply made people ask themselves “Should I let her go to spawn?” or “We are having burgers tonight so I guess I will throw this one back.” We need a complete shift in paradigm to save striped bass. The days of killing cows for hero shots are coming to a close.
I also noticed that folks were interested in the economics of the striped bass fishery. It varies drastically from state to state. Maryland has a very robust commercial fishery so they do have a substantial impact in the state. That said… this isn’t a commercial vs. recreational issue. This is a conservation issue. We… recreational anglers.. are partly responsible for the decline in striped bass. We have to clean up our own house first. That doesn’t mean that if illegal gill nets are found, I won’t be standing on the docks taking videos.. again. We will always speak out against violations of resource law. However, My Limit is One is for recreational anglers. It is our way to send a message loud and clear that striped bass should be managed for abundance. Currently, we study how many we can kill and have enough left over to sustain… SUSTAIN the population. That doesn’t work. The science isn’t that perfect. There are too many variables that the guys in pointy hats don’t fully understand. We manage a fishery by teetering on the edge and expect nothing to go wrong.
In closing, we want you all to know how much we respect each and every one of your opinions. We are always here to help. Anything I can do, just let me know. We will fight for you, the fish, and the future. We will never give up. Knowing there are anglers like this group out there makes it so much easier. I thank you all and wish you the best in 2014.

Tony Friedrich

[Kiko]

This is a great note from Tony. I just got off the phone with him as I am also participating in this effort in VA. Awareness is the name of the game here.....you guys will make a difference.

Great thread and great participation.

Ernie