Well I sent a letter to Megan Ware, the Chair of the ASFMC Striped Bass Management Board who happens to be from Maine.
To the ASMFC Striped Bass Management Board:
Congratulations!! ASMFC Striped Bass Management Board's historical standard operating procedure of "Kicking the Can Down the Road" has sentenced the Atlantic Striped Bass Fishery to failure! Look at yourselves, taking over 2 years to wrangle the Addendum III is tragic and unconscionable. With the 7th consecutive spawning failure just reported by MD, whatever you finally decide on for Addendum III will be the equivalent of using a squirt gun to put out a forest fire. An immediate, strongly conservative Addendum III may have been relevant 2 years ago; it's nothing more than a moot point at this juncture. The Management's Board handling of Addendum III is a classic example of too little, too late. I hope you're all congratulating yourselves in making sure that you tried to appease your special interest groups while ignoring your key responsibility, the Atlantic Striped Bass.
One would hope that you will marshal your efforts on actually trying to find out what has caused the continued spawning failures, the ROOT CAUSE of the impending doom of this noble fish, something that has been insured by the Board's love of delay. We've all heard hypotheses for the failures, but have yet to see any data from concerted studies. Time to actually do something instead of sending it out to committees, a well-designed and funded study beginning in April, 2026 that monitors all items critical to striped bass reproduction and maturation of eggs during their first 6 months in the Chesapeake. This positive action would demonstrate to the thousands of striped bass lovers and striped bass-related business that the ASMFC Striped Bass Management Board actually cares about this critical, historic resource.
Sincerely,
XXXXXXXX X XXXXX, PhD
Pemaquid, Maine