Lot's on attention being paid to the Striped Bass Young of the Year (YOY) surveys recently, as the Striped Bass Slot has been reduced from 28 to <35" to 28-31" in an effort to protect the "MD Class of 2015". There are surveys done by Maryland (Upper Chesapeake), Virginia (Lower Chesapeake), New York (Hudson River) and Maine (Kennebec River). In the world of YOY surveys, it seems that the MD spawn is the key one that managers focus on.
The Maryland survey consists of multiple nettings:
For this annual survey, fishery managers examine 22 sites located in four major spawning areas: the Choptank, Nanticoke, and Potomac rivers, and the upper Chesapeake Bay. Biologists visit each site three times per summer, collecting fish with two sweeps of a 100-foot beach seine net. The index represents the average number of recently hatched striped bass captured in each sample.
It's all explained here: Maryland YOY Survey
Here's the historic data from MD showing the Class of 2015's superior performance since 2011:
Here's Virginia's historical YOY results from: Virginia 2022 YOY It's a bit different than MD, wich 2015 not being a dominant year, although it shows 2011 as another impressive year. It's also not as impressed with 2017, but shows an impressive 2020 YOY class. If you go to the website above, it's an interactive graph and providing more data on each data point.
So how about NY's Hudson River? Here it is, and it too shows a very optimistic 2022 result, good news for all, especially ME, both ways, as of the 6 tagged fish I've caught, the only 4 that could be traced to a spawning ground were Hudson River fish.
OK, what about Maine which does have a YOY program? Well it's a bit tough as they run it as a "Double Secret Probation" event that ME DMR purposely likes to keep undercover. I can't find my latest copy of it, which was only updated around 2018. Suffice it to say, like everything that has to do with stripers in Maine, it's "a pimple on the ass" of the Atlantic Striped Bass situation so interesting, but not critical data.
OK, those are the facts. Here is the key question, IMO:
Is the MD Striped Bass YOY survey data the key measure of the health of the coastwide striped bass population?
If the answer is yes, then focusing protection on their Class of 2015 and reducing the slot might be a good idea.
If the answer is no then:
The Maryland survey consists of multiple nettings:
For this annual survey, fishery managers examine 22 sites located in four major spawning areas: the Choptank, Nanticoke, and Potomac rivers, and the upper Chesapeake Bay. Biologists visit each site three times per summer, collecting fish with two sweeps of a 100-foot beach seine net. The index represents the average number of recently hatched striped bass captured in each sample.
It's all explained here: Maryland YOY Survey
Here's the historic data from MD showing the Class of 2015's superior performance since 2011:
Here's Virginia's historical YOY results from: Virginia 2022 YOY It's a bit different than MD, wich 2015 not being a dominant year, although it shows 2011 as another impressive year. It's also not as impressed with 2017, but shows an impressive 2020 YOY class. If you go to the website above, it's an interactive graph and providing more data on each data point.
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So how about NY's Hudson River? Here it is, and it too shows a very optimistic 2022 result, good news for all, especially ME, both ways, as of the 6 tagged fish I've caught, the only 4 that could be traced to a spawning ground were Hudson River fish.
OK, what about Maine which does have a YOY program? Well it's a bit tough as they run it as a "Double Secret Probation" event that ME DMR purposely likes to keep undercover. I can't find my latest copy of it, which was only updated around 2018. Suffice it to say, like everything that has to do with stripers in Maine, it's "a pimple on the ass" of the Atlantic Striped Bass situation so interesting, but not critical data.
OK, those are the facts. Here is the key question, IMO:
Is the MD Striped Bass YOY survey data the key measure of the health of the coastwide striped bass population?
If the answer is yes, then focusing protection on their Class of 2015 and reducing the slot might be a good idea.
If the answer is no then:
