I recently ran into a friend who spends time each year fishing for stripers in Massachusetts in the Cape Cod area. As he explained how his season went, it was clear that things were not up to his expectations.
While my friend caught some of the biggest stripers he's ever landed on the fly rod, they were few in number. He used to catch close to a hundred in a day's fishing, which seems like a lot, but he ended up only catching just more than a dozen in three days of fishing. While this is anecdotal evidence, it still shows the change that may have taken place.
Many anglers are reporting similar stories, that striped bass populations have dropped, and while most would like to find a single answer, when you are dealing with wild fish populations that live in waters spanning many states, the answers are not always simple.
For example, there doesn't seem to be universal agreement that the populations are significantly down. The most recent assessment for stripers, completed in 2009 by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, indicates that since 1982, the striped bass population has increased from 9 million fish to more than 70 million in 2004. While this abundance has declined somewhat, the spawning age fish biomass remains well above the threshold and target levels, indicating to the commission that overfishing is not taking place.
Yet, it is hard to argue that anglers don't seem to be doing as well in the last couple of years. There are also other state agencies reporting a slowdown. The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries reports a significant drop in the catch of small stripers in the past four years.
One thing that will help preserve the striper population is the recent signing of legislation to protect New York's spawning population of striped bass. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the law, which prevents the reopening of commercial striped bass fishing in the Hudson River until at least 2015. This extends a regulation in place since the 1970s which protected spawning runs of striped bass from commercial fishing. According to a press release from the Coastal Conservation Association, these rules kept striped bass fishing alive when the Chesapeake Bay stock collapsed in the 1970s.
In terms of producing baby stripers, the Hudson River is the second-largest producer and protecting these spawning fish at a time when things are not well with the stripers makes sense.
Spawning success in the Chesapeake Bay, the biggest nursery area, is still a concern. In fact the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission monitors spawning success as well as adult populations and recommends rules for each state to adopt to increase the population where needed and to maintain healthy populations. The management regime includes restrictions on both recreational and commercial fishing as needed.
Downturns typically pit commercial fishermen, and this is already beginning in some states. This happened in the early 1990s, but the difference is that today the commercial harvest is highly regulated and there may be other contributing factors leading to the decline.
Studies are pointing to poor spawning in Chesapeake Bay in the past four years, and there are multiple theories as to why this is taking place. Some blame pollution, some blame overfishing, and yet there are others who believe that a few years of spawning success typically follow a peaking fish population.
So while most agree the peak population occurred in 2006, where we go from here is anyone's guess. Regulations may change to help things along, but populations can't stay at peak forever. Hopefully, numbers will start to improve in the next couple of years.
Rob Streeter is an outdoors columnist for the Times Union. Reach him at email@example.com, or send items to 961 Stoner Trail Road, Fonda, NY 12068.