AFSMC Striper Meeting

I think the real question here is what are they trying to manage.

Are they trying to stretch out the harvesting of the current stock so it is not reduced as quickly ?

or ....... are they under the false assumption that by trying to protect the existing population more fish will result in a higher yearly recruitment ?
 
Consistent state regulations would be a great starting point. The idea that a migratory fish has different regulations state by state seems absurd to me, especially when there is no way to define the stock being caught.

NY State is one fish over 28" but in NC where they have access to small fish in the spring/summer and then the big fish in the winter I believe they are allowed to have two fish a day from 18" to 22" while one of those fish can be over 27".

NYS has always had more stringent regulations than other states and getting everyone on the same program fishing for the same fish seems to make a lot of sense.
 
ag3 said:
I dont get how that would help? I think a slot limit makes the most sense by far. Something like 28"-36" slot.
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I don't favor it at all, that means that I'd would have caught zero keepers last season. I agree that a slot is something that would really help the striped bass fishery.
 
In Newsday today"

Measures to protect striped bass eyed for the fall

New measures to protect striped bass being eyed for the fall
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A drop in the population of spawning-aged striped bass has prompted regulators to seek suggestions on how to proceed.

By Mark Harrington[email protected] @MHarringtonNewsUpdated March 28, 2019 11:18 AM

"A steady drop in the population of spawning-aged striped bass is leading fisheries regulators to consider new measures to limit fishing impacts on that vital East Coast species as soon as this fall, state regulators said at a meeting this week.

Fishermen were given the floor at a meeting of the civilian Marine Resources Advisory Council in Setauket to suggest and opine on measures to limit so-called discard mortality — essentially the unintended killing of fish that are too small or over the limit of the one fish at 28 inches that anglers are allowed to keep in a season that starts April 15 through December 15.

Suggestions included everything from banning surfcasting and commercial fishing nets to requiring hooks that limit damage to fish. The measures were alternately greeted by heckles or applause from the standing-room-only crowd of chiefly fishing boat captains and anglers from across Long Island.

“The whole problem is dead discards from the recreational fishery,” said commercial fisherman John German of Brookhaven, who criticized the “inhumane” practice of catching fish with barbed hooks. “You eliminate that you’d be in fine shape.”

“We killed as many fish as we landed last year,” said DEC marine bureau chief Jim Gilmore. While noting stock assessments were preliminary, he said they were concerning enough that measures could be instituted by the fall, when a mass southward migration of stripers takes place along the East Coast. Gilmore said the preliminary assessments for striped bass indicate that the species is overfished but stressed that conditions are not as bad as the 1980s when population declines led to a moratorium on taking stripers along the East Coast.

Among the measures proposed were improved science and better assessments for population sizes. One veteran fishermen called the current assessments “complete crap,” noting “miles” of stripers he’s seen at sea, while others suggested populations were impacted by growing seal populations and pollution that are shifting striper migrations farther from land, and beyond the count of survey boats.

Gilmore said reducing discard mortality through education about fish handling and less damaging fishing gear would be better than shorter seasons or increasing the size of keeper fish, both of which were offered up at the meeting but could take a year to study and implement. DEC is planning to hire a staffer to increase education and outreach, he said.

Most at the meeting found consensus around plans to institute coastwide recreational fishing regulations for striped bass, rather than the often-disparate state-based rules that now prevail and often leave New York anglers at a disadvantage.

“We should do everything we can” to manage striped bass from a single coastwide set of rules given that it’s a “coastwide fish,” said Joe Tangel, a charterboat captain from East Moriches, who heads an association of for-hire fishing boat captains. While he didn’t dispute assessments for striper populations, he argued boat captains work hard to limit injury to fish they don’t keep. “We’re not seeing that kind of mortality” shown in the assessments, he said. Most agreed barbed and treble hooks can cause undue damage to the fish, as does the practice of landing fish by dragging them across the sand.

One hotly debated suggestion was the notion of banning commercial nets for the capture of striped bass, an idea that appeared to be influenced by efforts to persuade state legislators to draft a bill that would ban the use of long gill nets to encircle fish on beaches and haul them into shore in a manner similar to haul seining, which was banned in 1990. While the net ban was supported by some recreational anglers, it was opposed by most commercial fishermen.

Gilmore said tentative rules for the striper season could be drawn up as soon as April 30, and shorter-term measures could be instituted as early as August, after public comment.

“There will be plenty of time for the fishing community to look at these options,” Gilmore said."
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Scupper said:
I continue to advocate the ban on treble hooks , they do a lot of damage even when the fisherman is well intentioned
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My concern here is that virtually ALL plugs are designed, balanced and manufactured with trebles. The impact on action will be considerable until the design issues are resolved
 
On the other, all but forgotten website, maybe a year or so ago, someone had posted regarding the substitution of circle hooks on their plugs, eliminating the trebles. Is that someone here now ? I mainly just use tins and bucktails so prohibiting trebles is fine by me. What I do need to do is totally eliminate dragging the fish up the beach. 18" rat or not, I owe it to the little thing to risk getting a little wet and releasing it in the white water.
When I know I have the elusive (for me at least) keeper, I WILL drag that fish a bit up the beach as that catch has me immediately walking back to the parking lot, throwing it into the pickup bed, and going home with a happy face:).
A moratorium would not make me a happy camper. (Speaking of which, is Steve on this website?) I basically put the bay boat away, cease kayaking and just surfcast and deer hunt by late October.
 
If you’re trying to reduce discards, how do you enforce a bass fishing moratorium? “I’m not bass fishing, I’m after bluefish!”

They’ve got to go slot with stipulation of no culling and recommend stop fishing when a fish is kept.
 
Roccus7 said:
If you’re trying to reduce discards, how do you enforce a bass fishing moratorium? “I’m not bass fishing, I’m after bluefish!”

They’ve got to go slot with stipulation of no culling and recommend stop fishing when a fish is kept.
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I agree ...... if they want to use the flawed statement/logic that we are killing more than we are keeping, the only solution would be a slot size. I would be in favor of a 20" - 26" (2) fish limit with the current season. Protect (slow down the harvest) of your breeding class fish with a tag system for 3 trophy fish (over 40" ? ) only during 2 seasons. One in the spring, one in the fall. I would also like the fines for first offenses made higher ...... high enough that you would have to think twice about getting caught.
 

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