ASMFC Striped Bass Mgmt Board Meeting Documents
 

FYI: Some interesting reading for those concerned with Striped Bass stocks. The board meets on May 4th.

First document is minutes of last February meeting.

Second document (supplemental) is scientific studies addressing concerns brought up at the February meeting.

DZ

Thanks DZ
 

I used to be able to read these types of reports but
they are now so formulated and jargonized that it
is a foreign language. If someone can summarize
the reports in plain English I would appreciate it.
Is SB in a decline????

Yeah, I have the same problem... I'm not an idiot, well not a complete idiot, and I couldn't make it through the entire thing w/o going numb.

For most of us these should just be used as information documents. The stock is not technically in trouble and is still considered recovered but there are concerns. Try and wade through the graphs and formulas and just look at the current issues. Those issues of most interest to us are:

The committee has asked that a few tasks be addressed such as: a proposed increase in coastal commercial quotas by as much as 10-25%(which was narrowly defeated at the last meeting).

Taking into consideration the effect mycobacteriosis might have on the stock as a whole.

Looking at a split creel for recreational take - split creel meaning instead of 2 bass at 28" a proposed bag could be 1 over 18" and the other must be larger than 40" or 19" and 38", 20" and 36", etc.

The effect of winter fisheries in NC,VA,Md.

Mortality of discards both Rec and Comm.

Recreational regulatory options to increase the proportion of age 15+ bass by 3-5% using size/bag restrictions.

The supplemental document addresses these tasks/concerns to assist the board in making their decisions/recommendations.

DZ

Yeah, that'll work....

I can see tackle shop owners trying to explain that to the general population now...good fodder for YouTube, I think...:laughs:

They have done it in maine for years
One fish 20-26 or over 40
Maybe what I was told that the smartest float to the top is true

What is confusing is that every State has different regs on Striped Bass!!!

Most of the coast - with the exception of Maine - is pretty much the same.

How about instead of increasing commercial take by 10-25 % we reuce Commercial AND Recreational take by 10-25%? And throw in a slot too.

New York is more like ME than the rest of the coast. In NY its one fish over 28 inches and one fish over 40 inches, two fish max.

I would not say that is totally correct. Soon as you drop South of New Jersey the regulations are all over the place with different size limits in different areas and different size limits for different times of the year. Some areas allow three fish others two. You need to have the regs in your hand most of the time if you're traveling around.

As was noted in the meeting minutes by the NH rep. There has been this creep in total catch numbers due to loosening up of the regulations, mostly South of NJ. They keep allowing for small increases in the catch without totally them up.

The most important part of the report is the large amount of disclaimers at the top of the report. Would you be betting the ranch on this report after reading the disclaimers.