Striped Bass Managers Approve Potential Regulations for Public Comment
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]t a meeting on Tuesday, August 5, 2014 the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Striped Bass Management Board finally approved a Draft Addendum that proposes management measures to reduce fishing pressure on the striped bass stock. The addendum will be released along with a schedule of public hearings and a comment period on August 11. Options in the addendum include reducing fishing mortality in one year with an immediate 25% reduction for 2015 or spacing out the reduction over a three year time frame. On The Water fully supports the immediate 25% reduction as recommended by the most recent benchmark stock assessment, and we plan to support new recreational regulations of 1 fish at 32 inches. We will keep you informed as the official document is published and public comment opportunities are announced, and we encourage all striped bass fishermen to submit public comment.
ASMFC Atlantic Striped Bass Board Approves Draft Addendum IV for Public Comment
Alexandria, VA – The Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board approved Draft Addendum IV for Public Comment to Amendment 6 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass. The Draft Addendum proposes new fishing mortality (F) reference points, as recommended by the 2013 benchmark stock assessment, and associated management measures to reduce F to a level at or below the proposed target within one or three years.
The Draft Addendum responds to results of the 2013 Atlantic striped bass benchmark assessment indicating F in 2012 was above the proposed F target, and female spawning stock biomass (SSB) has been steadily declining below the target since 2006. This means even though the stock is not overfished and overfishing is not occurring, SSB is approaching its overfished threshold and stock projections show SSB will likely fall below the threshold in the coming years. In addition, a similar decline has been observed in total harvest.
In response to these factors, the Draft Addendum proposes management options to reduce fishing mortality to the target level. The Draft Addendum includes a suite of management options to reduce recreational and commercial harvest along the coast and in the Chesapeake Bay under three reduction timeframes. The timeframes include (1) reducing F to its target in one year with a 25% reduction in 2013 harvest in 2015 (2) reducing F to its target within three years with a 17% reduction in 2013 harvest in 2015, and (3) reducing F to its target within three years with a 7% sequential reduction in harvest for three consecutive years starting in 2015. Specific options to be considered include bag, size, slot and trophy size limits for the recreational fishery and quota reductions for the commercial fishery.
