On the heels of a dismal 2024 striped bass population survey, Atlantic coast fishery managers set a December date to reduce the recreational rockfish harvest for 2025. It will likely mean more mid-season closures or other steps to try and save this struggling species.
On Wednesday, Oct. 23, the Striped Bass Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) met to review the 2024 Striped Bass Stock Assessment update. The stock assessment concludes that the coastwide stock continues to be overfished (both recreationally and commercially), as it has been since 2012. That means the amount of spawning-age rockfish (biomass) is not enough to be what ASMFC considers a healthy stock. However, mortality from fishing is not high enough to exceed ASMFC’s standards.
As the fisheries commission met last week, they also considered the alarming results from the Maryland and Virginia annual surveys of juvenile striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay. For the sixth consecutive year in Maryland and second consecutive year in Virginia, both states’ juvenile indexes fell well below the long-term averages.
That’s bad news for the entire Atlantic coast, because about 75 percent of its fish are Chesapeake Bay natives (meaning they spawn here). Maryland’s rivers contribute two-thirds of those, and Virginia’s rivers the remaining third. The majority of next year’s spawning fish were born in 2015 and 2018, the last two years of strong rockfish numbers. (The 2018 fish will just be reaching maturity next spring.)
ASMFC has a 2029 deadline to rebuild the Bay’s striped bass stock to non-overfished status. To make that happen, the Commissioners will have to make tough decisions to protect the the 2015 and 2018 stocks, along with the few fish born in the small year classes from 2019 to 2024. At the meeting, the Board determined that it would have to reduce fishing mortality at least 15% more than 2024’s level, just to give the striped bass stock a 50% chance of rebuilding by 2029.Â
That task is especially challenging since the Striped Bass Board has already reduced catch limits so much. Last January, all recreational bag limits were cut to one fish per person, along with narrow “slot” size limits, closed seasons, and a 7% reduction in commercial harvest quotas.
Reducing fishing mortality further to meet the 2029 rebuilding goal will require specific measures that take into account rockfish behavior up and down the fishes’ geographical range (North Carolina to Maine).Â
To meet this challenge, the Striped Bass Board finally voted “to schedule a special Striped Bass Management Board meeting in December 2024 to consider Board Action in response to the 2024 Stock Assessment.” In the next two months, the Board will consider changes to the 2025 recreational seasons and/or size limits AND changes to the 2025 commercial quotas to achieve that 50% chance of rebuilding by 2029.
Between now and December, the Board has asked its Technical Committee to come up with options for reducing recreational and commercial fishing mortality in 2025. To reach a 50% chance, the options will include possible seasonal harvest closures, no-targeting options and possibly a new slot to protect the 2018 year class.
The members asked also to see what it would take to get to a 60% probability of hitting the target rockfish stock. We’ll be covering the options put forth at the December meeting and how they may impact Chesapeake Bay anglers, commercial fishermen, and our local fishing charter industry.
