Quote:
Originally Posted by Nebe
1@ 36
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Eventually 36" may happen, although it doesn't make sense to do it right now. If the fishery is lacking small fish, which appears to be the case, a 36" limit doesn't have any huge impact seeing most of the biomass is likely made up of large fish at this point. A one fish bag makes sense though, and consider this also:
Many believe we simply put a highly restrictive limit on the fish size and all will be well, but this isn't the case. First, we need a burgeoning year class that results from a big YOY index( in short, a good spawning year). Once its widely accepted the fishery overall is in decline, size and bag limits will be established to protect said big year classes in order to rebuild the "breeding" part of the biomass. This is what happened last time...the 36" limit didn't just fall out of the sky, it was the last of a regulatory tightening that was targeted at preserving the 1982 year class of fish.
For those who aren't aware, the 1982 class was a larger than normal year class and was really the east coast striped bass population's saving grace. Size limits and moratoriums were put in place with the protection of the 1982 class in mind. The size regulations started with a minimum size just bigger than the bulk of the small fish and steadily increased so as to stay just ahead of the 1982 class growth, thus preventing anyone from harvesting them. If I remember right, the size limit started and progressed like this: 18-24-28-30-33-36 until the population was deemed restored.
The recent low YOY's should be a concern, and if we do get a big index in the coming years, its time to reenact the above policy once again. The population right now is top heavy with big fish and lacking small.(not good future implications)