February 11, 2021 — Managing rockfish (striped bass) is like managing the Orioles or Nationals: everybody has an opinion on how to do it. Even as we acknowledge the significant challenges that Major League Baseball managers face, the rockfish issue is a lot more complicated. After all, it concerns tens of millions of fish swimming the Atlantic coast past 13 jurisdictions from North Carolina to Canada. The most recent data indicate that our beloved rock are overfished, and that we are overfishing them. Worse yet, the current version of the management plan in effect along the coast dates from 2003.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), which has legal authority to coordinate and enforce each jurisdiction’s local management plans, seeks to develop a new coastwide plan, to be known as Amendment 7. At its winter meeting last week, ASMFC’s commissioners (made up of three representatives from each Atlantic state, plus the Potomac River Fisheries Commission, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and NOAA) approved a Public Information Document (PID), asking for written comment from “stakeholders” (that’s any of us concerned with the health of these iconic fish) through April 9. The commission will also conduct public hearings, probably by webinar with dates and information announced on its web site.
It reads, “The purpose of this document [the PID] is to inform the public of the commission’s intent to gather information concerning Atlantic striped bass and to provide an opportunity for the public to identify major issues and alternatives relative to the management of this species. Input received at the start of the amendment process can have a major influence in the final outcome of the amendment.”