WASHINGTON February 29, 2012 – Supporters of proposed legislation that would ban the sale of Striped Bass are making dire noises about the status of the resource, citing a dramatically diminished recreational fishery and implying that the commercial fishery is responsible. However, the available facts undermine these claims, and calls into question the idea that the recreational fishery is in danger.
Currently, the recreational striped bass harvest, both in Massachusetts and coast-wide, dwarfs the commercial catch. It is responsible for the majority of Striped Bass removed from the water, and the current recreational catch by far exceeds the catch from 1995, when the resource was declared restored by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC).
Based on the most recent (2010) figures available from the ASMFC, the Massachusetts recreational harvest is 170% higher than when the resource was declared restored fifteen years earlier. Massachusetts saw its recreational catch go from 1.5 million pounds in 1995 to over 4 million pounds in 2010; in Maine, recreational landings jumped from 45 thousands pounds to 109 thousand pounds in the same time period. The numbers are similar coast-wide, with recreational landings going from 12 million pounds in 1995 to 21 million pounds in 2010, a 70% increase.
That the size of the resource and extent of the vast and prodigious recreational fishery will fluctuate is anticipated by the federally-mandated management plan. The plan is not designed to have an ever-spiraling upward stock of Striped Bass; it is designed to have the resource utilized by both sport and commercial fishing interests, and done so within a strict conservational framework. The resource is not intended to be managed for its own sake, but rather for the benefit of people.
The ASMFC in recent reports has stated that Striped Bass is not being over-fished, nor is overfishing occurring. It does estimate that the stock is lower coast-wide, but has determined that environmental factors, rather than overfishing, are the cause. But whatever the factors, should the stock decline below predetermined levels, the management body responsible for administering the management plan will impose curtailments on the coast-wide harvest, ensuring conservation–as has been maintained since the plans inception–for the benefit of all.
Russell E. Cleary, Commercial Anglers Association