August 28, 2019 — Anglers will be allowed to keep just one striped bass instead of two a day in the upcoming season, state fisheries officials decided Tuesday.
The move is meant to protect the species by keeping large breeding fish in the water, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission said in a statement. But it could squash the charter fishing industry and a popular fall tournament scene that relied on big fish.
“It kills it,” said Mike Standing, who has run the Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout for more than a decade. “It kills it all. We’ve been telling them for 10 years that there has been a problem with the population and they kept saying there wasn’t. Now they shut down the spring season and essentially shut down the fall.
“This is highly disappointing.”