Striped Bass Changes Article

[Billfish715]

This article explains, in a succinct way, the controversy surrounding striped bass closures, harvest, regulations and "RECREATIONAL" involvement. Believe it or don't believe it; but someone did some homework on this and didn't rely on suppositions and casual observations to arrive at conclusions.

The section dealing with "harvest" talks about striped bass in actual numbers compared to just percentages. Those numbers are referred to in millions of fish. The numbers are staggering. While millions of fish are still at large and probably pass by NJ far offshore, look at how many million fish are harvested. Again, there are millions!

Now, look at how many were released.........millions! Read further and notice how many of those released fish died. Again, it was in the millions! Who catches these millions of stripers? Recreational anglers do. Continue scanning through the article and see the percentage of the total catch of stripers that is made by recreational anglers.

Recreational anglers up and down the coast catch and kill over 90% of the striped bass. Yes, it's recreational fishermen who catch the lion's share of the stripers. Sure, there are millions of stripers out there and they are constantly under attack. Those that sneak past NJ offshore head to New England where they are hammered.

The only way to replace the millions of stripers that are harvested each year is to protect the breeders or..............impose another moratorium. New Jersey is next to last among the states that fish for and harvest stripers, yet our area seems to have been hit very hard lately. NJ harvests less than 10% of the stripers from Maine to Virginia. When the available striped bass population is reduced along the East Coast, that 10% number is reduced even more.

Recreational fishermen are the cause and the solution. There will always be striped bass to catch just as there will always be fluke to catch. The populations will never be completely wiped out but the chances of catching quality fish
will certainly be reduced dramatically.

Read the article and decide for yourself.

https://fishingbooker.com/blog/2019-...ason-closures/