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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.