I don't get it, according to the state of MA, is there a problem or not?
"It's clear to us that the main signal is environmental," said Michael Armstrong, deputy director of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.
Armstrong discounts overfishing and seals as the culprits. The total number of spawning fish today equals that of the 1990s, when large numbers juvenile fish each year rebuilt the stock to historic size. The female striped bass population, for instance, is 148 percent over the threshold of what is considered a healthy number.
But then he goes on to say:
"The problem is in the perception (of the recreational fisherman)," Armstrong said. State statistics show the numbers of keeper-size striped bass — 28 inches and over — landed by recreational fishermen has remained stable, or gone up a little. But the smaller fish that were born in the lean years after 2003 are fewer in number, and fishermen who used to catch 50 small ones before they kept the one big fish are disappointed in the lack of action.
It's a problem of perception. There's plenty of keeper size bass around. There is a problem with the environment but it's not in our environment it's theirs. It's the spring rain run off into the Chesapeake no other factors just that.
Spoken like a true fence sitting bureaucrat.
That may be a little harsh, but I wish someone in government would listen and not be so dismissive of what seems to be common knowledge. People who have been keeping logs for years say that all catches are down and not just schoolies.