June 7, 2019 — Have you taken the striped bass survey?
The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife is emailing fishermen and asking for input into measures to take to reduce striped bass harvest.
The step has to be taken before the 2020 season, according to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The driving force for cuts to the harvest is the 2018 Atlantic Striped Bass Benchmark Stock Assessment, which was not great.
One silver lining is the stock is not in as bad shape as it was in the 1980s when there was a moratorium.
The female spawning stock biomass was estimated at 151 million pounds, below the desired threshold of 202 million pounds. In the mid-1980s though, the biomass of breeder females was under 50 million pounds — according to the stock assessment.
In the 1990s, the female breeders rebounded and pushed out strong year classes in 1994 and 2002. Both those years saw recruitment at or over 300 million pounds of one-year-old fish.
The ASMFC is mandating that measures be taken to reduce the harvest of the fish by 17 percent within its range on the Atlantic coast.