At a special meeting held today, the Striped Bass Management Board voted not to enact stricter striped bass regulations for 2025. Instead, the Board committed to working on an Addendum to the Striped Bass Management Plan that will adjust regulations, if needed, for the 2026 season.
Striped bass are currently overfished and under a rebuilding plan with a 2029 deadline. The special meeting was called in reaction to an update that showed a less than 50% chance of rebuilding the stock by 2029.
Public comments received by the ASMFC ahead of the meeting were overwhelmingly in favor of the Board taking action with new regulations for 2025. Comments in favor of status quo argued that current management measures were working to rebuild the stock and taking action would cause unnecessary economic pain.
Representatives from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine voted in favor of a motion that would have required states to reduce striped bass removals by 9% through new regulations in 2025. However, after over two hours of discussion, the motion was defeated.
The next meeting of the Striped Bass Management Board will be at the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Winter meeting, held February 4-6, 2025.
What about this OTW Instagram post that poses the economic argument?
https://www.instagram.com/p/DDYQAmFOwPg/?igsh=MW91MmF3enkycjg2OQ==
Everyone can’t have their cake and eat it too. Having OTW send these kind of letters, as well as others like the SGA’s, is probably how the board landed on their decision, because the “conservationist “ like OTW and SGA are making economic arguments.
Is there some reason why stripers can’t be hatchery-raised and released like trout or salmon? If they can be, why not do it and forget all this quibbling over striper regulations? Where do the fresh-water stripers come from? Somebody must have raised them in hatcheries.
How is it that Massachusetts alone still allows for the commercial fishing of striped bass? All of us in New England have done our part to ensure the future of the species. In the meantime we view so called Massachusetts commercial fisherman killing spawning sized stripers in great numbers. Where is the fairness?