Stripers Forever

Striped Bass Gamefish is a film to help save striped bass.

(Via: Way Upstream)

Start by becoming a memeber of Stripers Forever....it's free.

Anglers Blast California DFG Striped Bass Proposal

Dan Bacher has all the gory details on the California Department of Fish and Game draft of proposed recreational fishing regulation changes for striped bass on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco Bay. The Department believes reducing the striped bass population will help listed Chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead, delta smelt, longfin smelt and tidewater goby by reducing smolt predation by bass. Unfortunately the science is not at all clear that striped bass have had any impact on listed species and reducing the population may in fact be detrimental to fish recovery. It appears the Department is caving in to agricultural interests who want the Delta's water. It will be critical for anglers to get involved to prevent these regulations from taking effect, the basic proposed changes are as follows.

Raising the daily bag limit for striped bass from two to six fish.

Raising the possession limit for striped bass from two to 12 fish.

Lowering the minimum size for striped bass from 18 to 12 inches.

Establishing a hot spot for striped bass fishing at Clifton Court Forebay and specified adjacent waterways at which the daily bag limit will be 20 fish, the possession limit will be 40 fish and there will be no size limit. Anglers fishing at the hot spot would be required to fill out a report card and deposit it in an iron ranger or similar receptacle.

Changes to the sport fishing regulations for the Carmel, Pajaro and Salinas Rivers to allow harvest of striped bass when the fishery would otherwise be closed.

DFG is also recommending an adaptive management plan that will help assess how the new regulations influence the fishery.

The proposal and management plan will be presented to the Fish and Game Commission for consideration at its December meeting.

There will certainly be more on this subject to come including what steps you can take to help. You can start by reading Bacher's overview on this absurd draft proposal.

LINK (Via: YubaNet)

Menhaden Defenders

From Stripers Forever:

Stripers Forever members - Capt. Paul Eidman and his concerned friends have formed Menhaden Defenders to lobby the ASMFC to institute a fairly conservative set of menhaden management guidelines to allow this depleted yet vital forage fish to recover.

We urge everyone concerned with the health of the striped bass resource to take action to help menhaden, one of the striper's most important sources of nutrition. 

Head over to the Menhaden Defenders website to take action. In the center of the home page you'll find a simple to use tool to send a message to the ASMFC, which will make the decision on menhaden harvest levels. 

Cuomo Signs Law to Prohibit Commercial Fishing of Striped Bass in Hudson River

Citing the economic  importance of a high quality recreational fishery for striped bass, the Governor signed legislation extending the ban on commercial fishing for striped bass in the Hudson River until at least April 2015.

LINK

Why would there ever be a commercial fishery for anything in the Hudson? The New York State Department of Health advises children and women of childbearing age against eating any fish from the Hudson River.

Tons of dead striped bass in illegal gill net

In what is becoming an all to familiar story, two more illegal gill nets have been recently found on the Chesapeake. One of these was a 1,400-yard net containing almost 7,000 pounds of rotting striped bass.

DNR is offering a $30,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the poachers.

LINK (Via: CCA)

Become a member of Stipers Forever and add your voice to protecting striped bass.....it's free.

Take Action for Striped Bass

This just in from Stripers Forever.

We apologize for the short notice on this Call For Action, but it is a chance for you to have a positive influence on how striped bass are managed. All indications and data suggest that the coastwide recreational catch of striped bass has been declining since 2006 – an eye-popping 70% drop in just 5 years. Add to that the poor spawning year classes since 2003, and the resulting lack of recruitment of young fish into the population, and the future does not look very promising. The striped bass population is being propped up by the good year classes of late 1990’s, plus 2001 and 2003, but if these now legal bass are overfished, as they are being now, and are not replaced, we could witness an epic crash in the striped bass population over the next 5-10 years.

There are real problems with the fisheries management plan for striped bass and it all starts with commercial and recreational fishing mortality rates that are too high, and triggers for management board action that are unrealistic. Action by the Striped Bass Management Board is like turning an ocean liner – it takes forever. So while the population continues to decline precipitously, the Striped Bass Management Board appears to be unresponsive. All of this scares the daylights out of us at Stripers Forever, and is all the more reason why gamefish status for striped bass is critical.

But there is something you can do to help – RIGHT NOW!

On Wednesday March 23, 2011, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board will hold their winter/spring 2011 meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia. Stripers Forever learned recently of a very important agenda item for this board meeting which is a proposal by the Maine Department of Natural Resources requesting that the board consider initiating an addendum to the Interstate Fisheries Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass to reduce coastwide mortality on striped bass. Other state marine fisheries directors, including Massachusetts, are recognizing the problems with the striped bass population and the lack of response from the management board. The board will be discussing this agenda item and taking possible action next week. It is unknown how many states will support this proposal, but we need as many fishermen as possible to urge your own state’s representative to the Striped Bass Management Board to support it. We also need you to contact the ASMFC directly in support of this proposal.

Attached is a PDF file with all the members of the Striped Bass Management Board. We suggest you start by emailing your own state director, then other board members from your state if possible.

PDF ATTACHED HERE: StripedBassBoard2011

It is critical for you to email Robert Beal, the ASMFC’s interstate fisheries management plan coordinator for striped bass at rbeal@asmfc.org.

Here is some sample language. Please cut and paste it into an email and send it to as many of your state’s representatives on the Striped Bass Management Board as you can, as well as Robert Beal at the ASMFC.

Dear _______________,

I am writing with serious concerns about the current trends in the data for the coastal striped bass population. Specifically I am very disturbed by the fact that the over all recreational catch of striped bass on the Atlantic coast has decreased by 70% since 2006. Concurrently, the Young of the Year index from the Maryland sections of the Chesapeake Bay have been very poor since 2003, resulting in extremely low recruitment into the coastal striped bass population. It is my strong belief that current fishing mortality rates set by the Interstate Fisheries Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass are too high and are resulting in unsustainable levels of striped bass mortality.

I strongly support the proposal by the Maine Department of Natural Resources that asks the Striped Bass Management Board to create an addendum to reduce coastwide mortality on striped bass. I am aware this is an agenda item for the Striped Bass Management Board at the ASMFC Winter/Spring 2011 Meeting in Alexandria, Virginia on March 23. I want to go on record as supporting this proposal and I urge the Striped Bass Management Board to take positive action to move forward with generating a new addendum to Amendment 6 of the Interstate Fisheries Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass that will address reducing coastwide striped bass mortality as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Signed,

Your Name

Your Address