April 22, 2019 — Virginia and two New England states are urging other East Coast fishery managers to move quickly to curb striped bass catches in the wake of a new assessment that found the prized species was being overfished.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission is poised to act as soon as Tuesday when it is scheduled to take up a staff recommendation for an emergency shutdown of the state’s spring striped bass trophy season, which targets the largest fish in the population.
Big striped bass, or rockfish, is a popular springtime catch for anglers. But the larger fish also happens to be the most productive egg bearers.
The action comes in the wake of a new stock assessment that found striped bass along the East Coast were in worse shape than previously thought and had been overfished for several years.