Quote:
Originally Posted by l.i.fish.in.vt
as far asthe Moratoruim,i am curouis,did the remaing bass decide to spawn because some states decided to ban the keeping of them or did some enviornmental factors line up just right in order for a sucessful spawn?.
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It reduced the harvest so that the few remaining fish could stay alive to spawn. The abundance in the mid 80's was incredibly low, like 1/20th what it is today by weight. Without the moratorium, it is likely they would have gone the way of cod. We don't need a moratorium today, but a reduction in harvest would help the documented continuous downward trend in abundance over the last decade. Based on the published data, there are at least 30 million fewer spawning females than 10 years ago and the numbered has decreased every year.