2025 MD Striped Bass Young of Year Assessment - Make that 7 consecutive spawn failures!!

[Matts]

My two cents:
We need to find out why spawning results have been poor.
Let's assume the 7 years of poor spawning success has at least some accuracy. As Roccus says, unless we get to the root of the problem, we are not going to fix it.
They could ban all bass fishing, but if pollution, loss of habitat, too much activity in the breeding grounds, or who knows what else is leading to poor spawn success, closing the season will have no impact. ASMFC can affect how many fish are taken and how much fishing activity occurs during spawning season, but if other factors are impacting the spawn, length and season regulations will never impact spawn success.
From my limited observation, there's plenty of bass around. But there are also a lot of people and a lot more shoreline development.
The cure has to be related to the cause or there is no hope of improvement.

 

[george]

My two cents:
We need to find out why spawning results have been poor.
Let's assume the 7 years of poor spawning success has at least some accuracy. As Roccus says, unless we get to the root of the problem, we are not going to fix it.
They could ban all bass fishing, but if pollution, loss of habitat, too much activity in the breeding grounds, or who knows what else is leading to poor spawn success, closing the season will have no impact. ASMFC can affect how many fish are taken and how much fishing activity occurs during spawning season, but if other factors are impacting the spawn, length and season regulations will never impact spawn success.
From my limited observation, there's plenty of bass around. But there are also a lot of people and a lot more shoreline development.
The cure has to be related to the cause or there is no hope of improvement.

History and the chart show this situation isn’t new. There have been previous seven-year stretches of poor YOY results, and each time, a single strong spawn set the stage for a recovery. Even during the last downturn, the fishery was able to rebuild, much of it while we were still taking larger fish. In fact, you could argue that today’s slot limits mean we’re being even more conservative than before.

@Roccus7 is right, but I'm afraid we will never find the answers we want.