Projo S-B editorial
 

Thanks to Tautog01 for the heads up.

I know, I know, nothing's wrong, they just 'moved'


Tim Coleman: The coming striped bass collapse | Contributors | projo.com | The Providence Journal

Tim Coleman: The coming striped bass collapse

01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, September 11, 2010

By TIM COLEMAN

The Rhode Island state fish is the mighty, beautiful striped bass. Sometimes weighing over 60 pounds when caught, the striper is a prize to many Rhode Islanders. For some, it’s one of the main reasons they choose to live and work in the state.

Back in the 1970s, lack of sufficient management led to a drastic decrease in our striper population. The decline was so great that eventually conservation measures were implemented that brought the fish back to levels of abundance starting in the late 1990s into this decade.

However, many New Englanders once again are voicing concern over our striper stocks. These are people who fish from the shore. Their willingness to step forward is similar to that of shore anglers in the mid-1970s who voiced worries about the decline of the cod stocks, a decline that continues today.

Shore anglers may be considered the canary in the coal mine, the first sign of something wrong, voiced by the “small” people without benefit of academic pedigree. What they do have is many decades of experience fishing our waters, and they often keep detailed records of their declining catches. Will anyone listen?

Andy Gagarin’s family has owned a home in Watch Hill since the 1920s, and he’s lived in it full-time since 1975. He looks out his front window at the surf and its population of striped bass. At the height of the striper resurgence, he caught an astounding 1,500 smaller stripers from the lighthouse rocks. By 2009, that number had dropped to 150.

Steve McKenna of Cranston is a lifelong Rhode Islander, now retired after 27 years as a state parole officer. He has fished all over the state from Little Compton to Napatree, always from the shore. He estimates the decline in his catch over the last five years as “at least 50 percent,” and also said he is catching fewer large bass over 30 pounds and is seeing an alarming drop in very small stripers — the seed stock for the future.

Five seasons ago, he caught 600 to 700 bass a season, with one or two of those in the 40-pound class and seven or so in the 30-pound class. Today, he struggles to catch a few 30-pounders during the year and his records show he landed 248 bass in 2008, and only 189 in 2009. His catch this year will be at, or even lower than, his worst season since 2005.

David Pickering of Lincoln is a retired schoolteacher and a well-known freelance writer whose articles on Rhode Island surf casting have appeared in many regional magazines in New England. In the bass heyday, he landed roughly 1,500 stripers fishing in upper Narragansett Bay and the south shore. This year he predicts he will be lucky to catch 500 fish. He also said he has never worked harder to catch fewer fish. The reason is obvious to him: We are killing too many stripers.

Dennis Zambrotta lives in Newport and works at the Navy base on Aquidneck Island. He is a lifelong surf fisherman, fishing both lower Narragansett Bay and the scenic rocky beaches along the Cliff Walk and Ocean Drive. His catch declined by at least a third the last five seasons: fewer big bass and on the other end, fewer smaller bass coming up the line. Dead fish cannot spawn, so there are fewer little ones to populate the future.

Surf-casting friends of his on Aquidneck Island all saw the same decline as reported in other parts of the state. It’s a situation that reminds Zambrotta of the last time stripers went into decline — late 1970s into 1984.

Meanwhile, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, charged with keeping bass at viable levels, maintains that striper stocks are healthy and do not require fishing cutbacks at this time. The panel said last fall that the striped bass “stock assessment update indicates that the resource remains in good condition. . . .”

All the above residents are aware of the difference in estimates of the health of the stock. One local summed it up by saying the government agency gets its data in a computer in an office a long way from the Ocean State. Locals get numbers from years and years of watching what goes on in the ocean off our coastal towns, some of them fishing the same waters as their fathers and grandfathers. They know when fish are increasing or decreasing, and the striped-bass catches of those who fish from the shore are going down.

If your neighbors are correct, as they were in the 1970s in predicting the cod collapse, will anyone with the power to change course listen to their concerns?

Tim Coleman is a Westerly-based writer specializing in fishing and other coastal matters.

right on the money tim :btu:

:(

we are screwed
 

The bass WILL CRASH it is clear to me. We are taking too many fish targetting the most fertile breeders destroying their food supply (pogie reduction fishery) and destroying their spawing habitat (the growing acres of dead zones in the Chesapeake bay). I think we were given a second chance with the striper, and I dont think we will be given a second chance as we approach the crash in the near future.

been telling ya 5 years :smash:

Me too!!

me three.

the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission

needs to have their DATA "challenged" for accuracy

sounds like a quick rubber stamp job to me. :doh:

in some cases they've admitted that their #'s may be up to 75% off and they're not sure of the affects of myco....can you say shot in the dark?...needle in haystack?.....spin the wheel of fortune? coleman said it perfectly.

me 4

So how can S-B.com help this cause? We are invested in the striper population. We all have thousands of dollars in equipment, time and effort invested. I have been saying that there has been a perceptable decline in recent years.

My experience and my log books show it.
I would encourage us to formulate a plan to address the problem.
Love to hear what you guys think.

Plan -- when you renew your license send a check along with a letter. No internet or in person registrations.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

How about a voluntary 1 fish per day limit.
We put up a thread nicely worded showing Tim's article and some statement about pledging to adhere to a 1 fish per day limit and ask people to sign on.

Sort of like a pledge card to United Way only this would be a pledge to voluntarily adnere to a limit lower than the law allows.

As part of it we also have a petition to ask that the limit be reduced. So in signing up you do to things , you pledge to take only 1 per day and you sign a petition to ask that the limit be lowered.

??Like idea ??? don't like??

Seasonal limit
 

There should be a seasonal limit for rec fisherman. Dont know if its possible sorta like a deer tag. After all how many bass do you need to eat per season? A keeper bass is enough for a meal for many familys and a big fish will feed many people. Dont know what we as a group can do but we better form and implement a plan soon. It seems as if the fish hogs are far better represented that us. Like my dad used to say its all about the money!

@36"

not gonna be popular but if you really want to send a message - boycott the striper cup.
kills thousands of pounds of breeder bass

I agree Bryan.

Agreed

Me too.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I agree with the spirit behind a 36 inch limit , I think if you try to squeeze too hard , nobody will sign up and/or honor their pledge. One fish at 28 is a really easy thing to agree to and in theory would reduce a lot of fish being taken. We could say no fish or 1 fish at 48 and nobody would do it.

Anyway , I'm just pointing out that a little improvement people might go for is better than a big improvement hardly anyone will go for or honor when the time comes to decide on a specific fish.

depends on your message, and who you want to here it.

if your message is make it a gamefish, then yes. If its one at 36" or some other criteria, then not necessarily. I'm a proponent of 1 @ 36" and I impose that limit on myself now. I still fish the striper cup and do not feel bad about it. Also, you have to remember that alot of the fish in the striper cup, especially the larger ones, are commercial caught fish that are being taken with or without the striper cup.

boycotting the striper cup with send a message to OTW, not the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission or any other regulatory agency

F*ck.

its a kill contest at a time when people (per the article and this site) are concerned about the health of the species. I recognize a number of the names on the leader boards as people who write articles or books on bass fishing. OTW makes $ with articles and advertising on bass fishing. If the fishery declines, one can assume readership and advertising will too. ex - If no one is catching bass, will Hogy still advertise? The contest as a whole IMHO is not "good" for the bass population. You can argue its not "bad", but you cant tell me that its good. You can sit back and wait for legislation to pass or you can take action yourself. By not participating in the cup, you are not paying $ for a contest that kills bass. IMHO - only good can come of that. Its a hard message to the world that so many fisherman are complaining about the bass population and so many major names are in a kill contest.

ask youself this - if there is an all out ban, another moratorium on sb - would you wear your Striper Cup shirt? Would you be proud you were in a kill contest while the population was declining?