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Here in Maine we have a slot limit where you are allowed to only keep one fish. That fish can either be between 20-26" or over 40"
This rule seems to work great. We are seeing many fish in the high 30's that would normally be kept on a regular basis. The overall size of the fish has really increased. I think if the entire East Coast participated in these size regulations, everyone would be very pleased with the increased catch frequency of large fish.
The future of the stock depends on the spawning class. It is important that the entire coast works toward the same goal of protecting the stock. Otherwise our regulations in Maine mean nothing other than the fact that we have tight regulations to protect fish that are going to eventually swim through other states and likely be kept.
As far as the increase in commercial fishing quota's......that is a bunch of crap. We don't have that many stripers around where we should start allowing for the striper stocks to be more heavily harvested.
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