The feisty and enormously popular striped bass would be off limits to all commercial fishermen in Massachusetts under a proposal being considered by state lawmakers.
The bill would ban the commercial catch of striped bass in state waters and limit recreational fishermen to taking home one striped bass per day — down from two — while imposing new size restrictions.
The proposal to make stripers a "game fish" comes at a time when regulators say the once-rare sport fish is abundant, not overfished and reproducing at a healthy clip. But the bill's backers say the science is off and fear regulators are setting up a population crash by allowing commercial fishermen to pluck out the most productive stripers — large females.