Fisheries Commission Announces Striped Bass Conservation Plans

     Alexandria, VA  --  The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Striped Bass Management Board has initiated development of Draft Addendum III with the goals of reducing striped bass fishing mortality (F) up to 40% and further protecting spawning stock when it is concentrated and vulnerable. The addendum was initiated in order to allow managers to promptly respond to the results of the stock assessment update in the fall if necessary.
     Provisions of the addendum, if passed, could be implemented prior to the start of the 2012 fishing year. The Board’s action responds to recent trends in the fishery and resource, including a 66% decline in estimated recreational catch from 2006 to 2009; a 25% decline in estimated striped bass abundance from
2004 to 2008; and lowered recruitment in recent years. Additionally, states in the northern extent of the
fishery have expressed concern over decreased availability of striped bass as a result of the diminished
water quality in the Chesapeake Bay during the summer months that may also contribute to increased
prevalence of mycobacteriosis in striped bass.
     Draft Addendum III will propose a range of fishing management measures including, but not limited to,
adjustments to commercial and recreational minimum size (for jurisdictions outside Chesapeake Bay and
Albemarle Sound/Roanoke River), reductions in annual coastal commercial allocation, reductions in
recreational bag limits, revisions to the target F rate (for Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle Sound/Roanoke
River), and reductions on fishing for striped bass in known spawning areas during the spawning season by
at least 50% (for jurisdictions bordering the Hudson River, Delaware River, Chesapeake Bay and
Albemarle Sound/Roanoke River).
     The commercial and recreational fishery is currently managed through Amendment 6 to the Striped Bass
Fishery Management Plan. The Amendment, passed in 2003, allocates the coastal commercial quota and
set a two-fish bag limit and a 28 inch size minimum for the recreational fishery, with the exception of the
Chesapeake Bay fisheries, Albemarle Sound/Roanoke River fisheries, and states with approved alternative
regulations.
     The Draft Addendum will be developed for preliminary review by the Atlantic Striped Bass Management
Board in August. For more information, contact Kate Taylor, Fishery Management Plan
Coordinator, at ktaylor@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.