2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Not trying to fear monger here but keeping my ear to the ground since there are all sorts of rumors flying around from a full closure to some seasonal and area closures to status quo and gear and slot changes etc.

Your guess is as good as mine but I think the odds are very low for a full closure although "the science" would indicate otherwise because there would be way too much public and industry opposition.

What ever the case is, unlike other fisheries these decisions will not be made at a state level and our NJ council won't be able to decide what's best for us like adjusting season dates, slot size etc. About the only thing they and we can do is try influence the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) decisions.

Although no decisions will made and there be limited opportunities for public comments, I would advise you to listen into this webinar to see which way this is headed

Atlantic Striped Bass Advisory Panel
STARTS December 9, 2024 4:30 pm
ENDS December 9, 2024 7:00 pm

Please note this is a working meeting of the Atlantic Striped Bass Advisory Panel. The public is welcome to listen in, but there will be limited opportunity to provide comments during the call/webinar. During conference calls/webinars, we ask that the public and other non-participating attendees please mute their lines in order to minimize distractions to the Committee’s deliberations. For transparency, if you intend to record the meeting, you should let staff know prior to the meeting.

Webinar: https://v.ringcentral.com/join/007505173
You can also dial in using your phone.
Dial: +1 (650) 419-1505
Access Code / Meeting ID: 007505173

In the mean time I'll be watching this and keep us all posted on this thread and hope others will as well.

I'd also be interested in your thoughts on where you think 2025 regs will end up as well as your thoughts on what they should be.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

For NJ I would like to see one fish per day at 24" to 34"

Get rid of the bonus tag.

Get rid of commercial striped bass fishing on the east coast.

I would also be OK with closures around the spawning season - areas. However I know that would hurt the charter guys.


Joe T.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

I think I would be OK with changing the slot since if you keep on pounding fish of a certain age/inch class when the recruitment (new fish coming into the fishery) was better then, you're targeting the future of the fishery.

I also believe our local fishery is and has been in a much better place then the Chesapeake Bay fishery because we sucked it up, took care of it and made the hard choices and sacrifices. Chesapeake is the scene of of the crime so punish them, not us.

As far as the commercial fishery is concerned, they represent a very small portion of this fishery and any changes made there wouldn't move the needle and be inconsequential.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

totally agree.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Just curious, why get rid of the Bonus program? What' the benefit?

I depend on that so my customers can at least (hopefully) have a good eating sized fish to take home. Catch and release is going put the rest of us out of business.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

IMHO and AGAIN someone has to prove the over inflated mortality rate on safely handled and safely released "overs" and "unders" . I understand the big girls get stressed by C/R but I don't believe the bottom is littered with crab bait. We have had almost a month of concentrated on great bass fishing in some general areas both jig and bait fishing and can not find a "diver" who states that their are littered bottom of dead bass????

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Funny how we went from all bluefish and no striped bass to no bluefish and all striped bass.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Just so everyone else reading here understands it, the benefit we in NJ get with the bonus program is a direct result of our state deciding we didn’t want to allow commercial fishing for Stripers here. In turn that commercial quota gets transferred to the recreational sector. That allows us to keep an extra smaller slot fish unlike the other states who have a commercial fishery.

I’m not saying the extra slot is good or bad just wanted to let people know why we have the extra slot so they can have an informed opinion and discussion.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Spoken like a Politician, always cover your butt both ways.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Read what he actually wrote .
He included the bonus tag size fish in his fish limit size , and extended it 34” which is 3” more than you currently have .

If the limit was as he stated 24” to 34” you would have a bigger pool of fish for your fares to keep .

As far as CR putting guys out of business , I haven’t seen anyone who has been catching 40-48” fish cry they don’t have anything for the table .
Seen a lot of hoot and hollering about what great fish they are catching .

.boats south of you are railed daily for guys looking to catch those jumbos


.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

seems like this is the never ending story,striped bass and regulations.i try to understand why someone,anyone can't sit down and come up with a set of regulations that works for all involved.when i started striper fishing it was 10 fish 18" or over.i understand things change but why are we having the same conversations every year.make a balanced set of regs and that is that.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

In the 70's and 80's, the striper stock underwent significant declines due to the massacre of large female spawners by southern states commercial fisheries. Maryland implemented a moratorium from 1985-1989 and Virginia the same in 1989. The biomass immediately bounced back due to increased recruitment levels. My point is twofold. Regardless of what percentage commercial makes up of the fishery which proportionately is about the same today as it was in the 80's, if they focus their harvest on the breeding stock they've proven they can and will do substantial damage to the stock. That's why I posted a few weeks ago that allowing Massachusetts commercial interests to harvest stripers 34" and above is asinine. Second point is the female population of the stock today is three times larger than the 80's and early 90's yet struggles as recruitment is as low as it's been in 50 years. Why? Answer that question and you'll know where to focus management efforts.

Pollution in the Chesapeake, water temperatures in the bay, lower oxygen levels in the Chesapeake, too many bunker being harvested by Omega Protein. In the 80's, there was 50 million lbs. of female breeders in the stock, in 2021 there was over 160 million lbs., don't think numbers of females is the problem as there's more around now than I've seen in my life. We just witnessed that a few weeks ago. Problem is recruitment isn't keeping pace with the exponential growth of large females in the stock and a growing spawning stock population. Question is why?

Personally I don't think large fish mortality from catch and release is the problem, stripers float when dead, maybe not immediately but within a few days when they start to decompose. Anyone seeing substantial amounts of large breeders floating on the surface? Haven't witnessed that myself or heard it to be the case.

The Chesapeake has been turned into a cesspool and we've allowed a foreign owned company to decimate the bunker population which has greatly impacted the bay's ability to support recruitment for multiple species, including stripers.
Fix that problem and you'll fix not only the striper fishery but many others that are being impacted by the exploitation of bunker in the Chesapeake by Virginia, Maryland and one foreign corporation.

You want the ASMFC to make a difference and start managing instead of playing politics, convince Virginia and Maryland to implement measures that are going to bring the bay back and stop treating it as their personal piggy bank by wiping out the bunker population that for years kept the water quality at levels which could sustain strong and sustainable recruitment levels. Push Cooke Inc. / Omega Protein out of the bay, slash their coast wide quota and reassess the situation after three years.

Don't punish recreational anglers, party and charter boat operators by removing a bonus fish, that's not the problem and will accomplish nothing but put another nail in small business coffins when they have absolutely nothing to do with causing the problem the fishery is currently experiencing.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

No different than fluke, both stocks went from being robust for years to a substantial state of decline for different reasons. With bass, female levels as just mentioned have tripled yet recruitment has fallen off the cliff. Striped bass fishery has an environmental issue in the Chesapeake caused by urban and agricultural run off and the unabated harvest of bunker in the bay by one foreign owned conglomerate. Fix those two problems and you will fix the fishery.

The fluke fishery on the other hand has a recruitment problem because the regulations took approximately 60 million female breeders out of the stock and they allow the commercial sector to operate during the spawn without any understanding of the impact it's having on reproduction. Reduce the size minimum for the recreational sector, disallow commercial operations during the primary spawn in mid-september to late October early November and come to grips with the outrageous waste involved with commercial discard and the fluke fishery will grow exponentially. The entire process is broken and will only be fixed if the entire management of these resources is moved from the Department of Commerce to the Department of the Interior or lawsuits are filed representative of the recreational community and fisheries interests which we all know will never happen.

NMFS, ASMFC and MAFMC all have their heads in the sand. You can have as much science as you wish, as much peer review as you want but if data and common sense is going to be ignored in favor of economics, politicians and sectors instead of the health of the stock, there really is no functional purpose of fisheries management.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

i understand all that but still no reason why those in charge can't come up with
a set of regs that works.seems like the hunting and fresh water regs stay constant but the marine has always been all over the place.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

BD, name two major differences between marine fisheries and freshwater and hunting and you'll answer your own question.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

ASMFC Striped Bass Board Meeting Report – Key Takeaways (November 2024)​
Overview:
Tom Fote, a longtime advocate for recreational anglers and sustainable fisheries, offers a critical perspective on the recent Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Striped Bass Board meeting. With over four decades of experience, Fote has been a leading voice in striped bass conservation and played a pivotal role in creating the New Jersey Striped Bass Gamefish Bill, banning the commercial sale of striped bass in the state. As one of the earliest advocates for striped bass recovery, Fote remains dedicated to ensuring that management decisions reflect the interests of recreational anglers, environmental realities, and community needs.
Key Takeaways:​
Exclusion of Public Input:
The ASMFC meeting restricted public commentary, undermining a process that has historically included stakeholder engagement.
Emergency actions now guide striped bass management, bypassing public hearings, which Fote criticizes as a breach of the established framework.
Fote urges state commissioners to advocate for public participation in all stages of decision-making.
Environmental Conditions, Not Biomass, Affect Recruitment:
Recruitment issues are driven by environmental factors rather than the size of the spawning stock biomass.
Fote warns that focusing regulations only on biomass size will not address the underlying ecological challenges, making management efforts ineffective.
Proposed Reductions and Poor Timing:
The ASMFC plans to discuss an additional 15% striped bass harvest reduction in a special meeting in December 2024, despite limited data on the effectiveness of 2024 reductions.
The meeting’s timing—during the holiday season and peak fishing periods—further limits participation from the recreational angling community.
Economic and Social Impacts Ignored:
The ASMFC has not conducted economic studies on how regulations affect charter operators, recreational anglers, and fishing communities.
These decisions disproportionately impact subsistence fishers, raising environmental justice issues, as rising fish market prices leave low-income anglers unable to fish for food.
Division Within the Recreational Fishing Community:
Fote highlights growing conflict between catch-and-release advocates and those who fish to provide food, weakening the once-unified voice of recreational anglers.
This division allows policymakers to implement harmful regulations with less resistance from the fishing community.
Unaddressed Environmental and Chemical Threats:
Fote emphasizes the need to address issues like endocrine disruptors and climate change, which are skewing male-to-female ratios in fish stocks and affecting reproductive health.
Inconsistent Fisheries Management:
Fote contrasts striped bass policies with Southern New England’s lobster management, where stakeholders were consulted extensively despite ongoing environmental recruitment challenges.
Call for Unity Among Recreational Anglers:
Reflecting on his efforts to pass the New Jersey Striped Bass Gamefish Bill, Fote urges recreational anglers to revive the unity they had in the 1980s, when they worked together to rebuild striped bass stocks.
He advocates for a renewed push toward coastwide gamefish status for striped bass to ensure future policies reflect the interests of all recreational anglers.
Closing Thoughts:​
As a pioneer in striped bass conservation and an advocate for recreational anglers, Tom Fote’s leadership has shaped New Jersey’s fisheries policy. His report serves as a call to action: The recreational fishing community must unite, prioritize environmental solutions, and demand inclusive management processes. Fote’s legacy—marked by the passage of the New Jersey Striped Bass Gamefish Bill—shows that when anglers work together, they can achieve lasting change. Now is the time to reclaim that collaborative spirit to protect the future of striped bass and the interests of recreational anglers.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Funny how fishing outside of the EEZ is never mentioned in any of this.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

its not what the difference is,its why no one has been able to come up with
regs that will be satisfactory to all involved.its only been 25 years

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

I was replying to the comment about get rid of the bonus fish Dan. All my customers don't want to play catch & release like the SOUTHERN guys, Which is also bullshit. As far as I know the Mohawk is the only boat live Bunker fishing and yes, that's his Neitch, his customers love that. I do agree that if the limit was 24-34 that would be a plus.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Broad Bill, your comments on Striped Bass and Chesapeake Bay hit the nail right on the head. Maryland recreational fishing regulations still allow taking of Striped Bass between 19" - 24", and a commercial fishing minimum of 18", helping to destroy one of the last good year classes. Furthermore, there is the Blue Catfish (a manmade problem) which are eating everything in the Bay including young-of-the-year Striped Bass and larvae. New Jersey does not have a commercial Striped Bass fishery. A small percentage is dedicated to the Bonus Tag program. There are several states with commercial Striped Bass fisheries that are very eager to get the regulations changed to transfer New Jersey's un-used commercial Striped Bass quota to their commercial Striped Bass quota, which would result in more Striped Bass being caught and killed.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Oh my some critical thinking here. I love it!

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

And none of the bass outside the EEZ are in any stock assessment. Something fishy right?

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

We may be looking at a15% cut though seasonal closures. Since stripers migrate to different states at different times, states would likely have the authority to set their own seasons as long as it results in the required cut. This is my best guess as to what will happen but there are many other options including doing nothing for 2025. Regardless, a new addendum will be coming out for 2026. Paul Haertel, JCAA Board member

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

https://onthewater.com/maryland-dnr-...-straight-year

https://www.asmfc.org/species/atlantic-striped-bass

Read the above two links. Even though female breeders have increased threefold since the 80's, the young of the year index in 2023 for stripers was the second lowest in recorded history. Pollution, over harvest of bunker and predation in Chesapeake Bay have caused this entire problem. Address the pollution, push Omega Protein "OP" out for 5 years. If Virginia or Maryland resist, l ASMFC, NMFS and all other coastal states should take Virginia, Maryland and OP to court. As far as predation in the bay mentioned by another poster, if it's a real problem fix it. If it's a man made problem, there's a man made solution. ASMFC has to own this problem, address the two states causing it and stop causing economic ruination for the remaining Mid-Atlantic and Gulf of Maine states, small businesses, party and charter boat operators and recreational anglers all who have God given rights to access and benefit from this resource. Just do your f&$#@?! jobs and manage the problem you allowed VA., Ma. and OP create.

Again another commercial operation who is single-handedly destroying through residual impacts the single largest reproductive habitat of the striped bass and the federal government and state governments and Committees that oversee this fishery allowed it to happen. Now the same agencies are sounding the alarm and will cause the remainder of the Mid-Atlantic and Gulf of Maine States to pay the consequences of their misguided decisions all so politicians, businesses and the states of Virginia and Maryland can line their pockets.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Paul with all due respect how will any of what you posted help clean up the Chesapeake Bay or change the current status of the striped bass stock. Stop focusing on quotas and start focusing on what it's going to take to save the fishery and then the quotas will take care of themselves.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

More critical thinking here, love it!

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Don’t shoot the messenger here. I think this is Paul’s assumption of how he thinks things will end up, not what he’d like to see.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Gerry I agree I could have worded it more clearly. I'm not coming at Paul, my comments are directed as they've always been at the agencies making these horrible decisions and taking no responsibility for their actions. What Paul wrote may well be the outcome but it won't one iota address the problem if it is in fact completely environmentally driven as a result of primarily Omega Protein destroying natures built in filtration system in the bay. That's why I said with all due respect to Paul but could have been more clear in my comments.

There's countless articles about the pollution problem in the Chesapeake caused by relentless harvest of menhaden and the resulting impacts to the entire ecosystem. Agencies, federal and state, have to get off their collective asses and do something about it as opposed to two states, NMFS, ASMFC pandering to the whims of the special interest groups who are making an absolute fortune at everyone else's expense.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Agreed!

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Sounds about right Paul and thanks for staying on top of this...

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

That's because all the divers were eaten by spiny dogfish.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

More info here https://www.bayjournal.com/news/fish...bdeb3b72a.html

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

I'll never understand how these morons can say they're actually managing fisheries. The striper fishery, for the large part, is in a free fall decline just like fluke for the exact same reasons yet NMFS, ASMFC and MAFMC focus on quota cuts while doing nothing to address the recruitment problem. The Chesapeake, which supports 70% - 90% of coast wide recruitment, has seen continuous deteriorating water quality over the years for multiple reasons, the striper recruitment solution is a 15% cut in quotas! Really, what genius came up with that proposal? Historically low recruitment for six years means the fishery is dying. Address the cause of the problem, not the result. These agencies are pathetically inept doing their job and arguably the two most important stocks on the eastern seaboard, stripers and fluke, are paying the price. Send &$#&@/! Omega Protein packing back to Canada. Let USA commercial netters net bunker responsibly in the ocean and sell them to the Canadian salmon farms.

Close the Chesapeake to netting of bunker permanently and do whatever needs to be done to manage the bay back to health. And then close the GD fluke season to commercials in September through October and the stocks will take care of themselves. 15% reduction, does anyone believe that'll change anything. That's on the heels of a 42% reduction for fluke for 2024 and 2025 which will also do nothing as evidence by this past fluke season being one of the worst in recent memory. At least in the striped Bass fishery, management has finally woken up and protected the large breeders. In the fluke fishery the regulations mandate the harvest of the larger breeders while killing who knows how many younger age class fish thrown back dead which is arguably one of the most asinine management philosophies they could have adopted. Regulations that target the harvest of the breeding population, kill hundreds of thousands of prime breeders during the offshore migration and multiple trillions of eggs in the process. And these *******s are ultimately responsible for the fate of these fisheries.

The recreational sector, ASA or all the Mid-Atlantic and Gulf of Maine states need to file a class action law suit against NMFS for complete mismanagement of these two stocks. They're literally killing these fisheries and the only thing that will change that is a court order to clean up Chesapeake Bay, kick Omega protein the f*** out and stop the commercial sector from harvesting any stock during its spawn which is the primary cause the fluke fishery is in the toilet. If ASA continues to keep their head in the sand, find out what primary manufacturers fund them through excise taxes from recreational spending and boycott those products until they get the message and support the recreational sector and stocks. There's a lot of quality knock offs out there. Virginia and Maryland politicians should be taken to court for their roles destroying not just multiple fisheries but the Chesapeake Bay itself and economic benefits of the striper fishery throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Gulf of Maine states. Two states, Maryland and Virginia, can't be allowed to benefit from the socio and economic benefits of a stock at the expense of eight other states that make up that stocks migration range. If that's the case, stop North Carolina and Virginia netters from coming into our local waters and destroying the last remaining summer flounder population during the winter.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Don't hold back Bill and let us know how your really feel :D

All valid points and it seems every fishery they "manage" gets worse, not better!

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Gerry I learned a long time ago there's times when we all need to bring more heat whether it's running a business or in this case discussing how stocks are being managed. Too many fisheries are being exploited for political, commercial and financial gain and the recreational sector, charter and party boat operators and small businesses dependent on them are taking it on the chin and being asked to accept ineffective decisions and unfair and disproportionate allocations of a public resource. It needs to end or many people's lives will change socially and economically. That's not at all the spirit which drove the Magnuson Stevens Act. A 15% reduction in striper catch will do nothing addressing the problem of the Chesapeake being turned into an absolute cesspool any more than a 42% reduction in catch quota for fluke will mitigate the damages of regulations mandating the harvest of prime breeders of the stock and a commercial sector that obliterates these stocks in September, October and November while they're spawning during their offshore migration.

Management can collect all the data they wish from scientific studies and conduct all the peer review they wish but if they continue to ignore the facts and data from those studies, refuse to address the problems causing these declines and continue making decisions based on politics and economics, these fisheries I guarantee you will be a shadow of themselves in the not too distant future.

I would argue more heat is exactly what's needed from everybody impacted by these absolutely asinine regulations we've been asked to live with for over two decades now that have done nothing more than create more problems for these stocks to the extent their futures are now seriously in jeopardy.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

For those of you who want to understand what's going to happen to Striper Regs this coming season, although the cynic in me thinks ASMFC will do their normal "kick the can down the road" routine...​

Important Striped Bass Meeting Dates​
Informational Webinar to Review Atlantic Striped Bass Technical Report
Date: December 5, 2024, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Location: Virtual, webinar registration link
https://register.gotowebinar.com/reg...14609517348697
The Commission will host an Informational Webinar to review the management options developed by the Technical Committee and provide the public with sufficient background information to inform the development and submission of public comment by December 10. No public comments will be taken at this webinar; staff can address clarifying questions as time allows but public comments will not be taken.

Atlantic Striped Bass Advisory Panel
Date: December 9, 2024, 4:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Use the link Gerry provided in 1st post,,, note- u need to install RingCentral.

Please note this is a working meeting of the Atlantic Striped Bass Advisory Panel. The public is welcome to listen in, but there will be limited opportunity to provide comments during the call/webinar.

Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board
Date: December 16, 2024, 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Location: Virtual/ In person Westin Crystal City, 1800 Richmond Hwy, Arlington, VA 22202

The draft agenda, webinar information, and the Technical Committee Report with management options for consideration will be posted on the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission by December 3. The meeting responds to the results of the 2024 Stock Assessment Update (PDF), which indicates the resource remains overfished but is not experiencing overfishing.

Public Comment Guidelines

The Commission anticipates a large volume of written public comments will be submitted for this meeting. In order to compile and provide the comments to the Board in a timely manner before the meeting, written comments may be submitted via email to comments@asmfc.org by 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, December 10. Comments received after this date will not be included in the Board’s materials.

Re: 2025 Striped Bass Regulations
 

Thank for that and Happy Thanks Giving Harry Lart!