Striper Regulations Poll

[Foul Hook]

Contact this guy ,he is new to the ASMFC and also a NJ state assemblyman. Last time I talked to him he had someone from Lund's fisheries as an adviser. He a local guy get in his ear.

https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/BIO.asp?Leg=379

[Hanis]

2@ 24" - 28"

[Duffman]

Originally Posted by Hanis

2@ 24" - 28"

X2

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by Hanis

2@ 24" - 28"

Not an option because of the assumptions made on how many fish would be landed and kept. We would then be deemed to be out of compliance on meeting our 2020 conservation equivalency and likely pay for that in more stringent regs in 2021.

Also, you'd be hard pressed to be able to catch/keep any 24 -28 inch fish during the spring and fall ocean runs since most of these fish are plus 28.

There is also a 9% morality rate on released Stripers, imagine how many fish you'd have to release to fill your limit @ two 24 - 28 inch fish?

Seems to me we have a big fustercluck on our hands here.... We want to protect the large breeders but the mortality rates work against us since we'd be catching and releasing a lot of fish.

Also interesting to note that the Fluke regs force us to target larger fish but the powers to be don't seem to apply that logic to Stripers...

I wonder why that is??

[Billfish715]

Gerry or someone, please refresh my memory about the striped bass regulations from about 20 years ago. I remember being allowed to keep slot fish from 26" to 28" or somewhere close to that. I'm not sure exactly, but I know the limit was two stripers somewhere in that size range. In fact, there may have even been a bonus fish included making the total 3 stripers.

Can someone refresh my memory, please? My point is that there were liberal regulations during a time when striper numbers were recovering. The stocks did not seem to be affected because we celebrated some phenomenal catches of large stripers years later. Maybe there is a method to allowing fishermen to catch/keep slot fish without destroying future breeder stocks. Again, do we want quality or quantity? But, it's not about what we want, it's about what the AMFC wants for us.

[Gerry Zagorski]

I don't recall the exact regulations that far back but I do recall a point back then where NJ bonus tags were for fish over 48 inches, I think??

Maybe someone else knows, I looked but could not find anything.

And since they are in the same area, NY regulations if I recall were always more stringent then NJs and almost always had larger size limits which forced people to target larger fish.

Not sure where you are going with this, but one important thing to remember... The issue we face now is due in large part to the Chesapeake bay stocks... That's were most of the decline is coming from and why we're all expected to cut back.

[Skolmann]

Originally Posted by Billfish715

Gerry or someone, please refresh my memory about the striped bass regulations from about 20 years ago. I remember being allowed to keep slot fish from 26" to 28" or somewhere close to that. I'm not sure exactly, but I know the limit was two stripers somewhere in that size range. In fact, there may have even been a bonus fish included making the total 3 stripers.

Can someone refresh my memory, please? My point is that there were liberal regulations during a time when striper numbers were recovering. The stocks did not seem to be affected because we celebrated some phenomenal catches of large stripers years later. Maybe there is a method to allowing fishermen to catch/keep slot fish without destroying future breeder stocks. Again, do we want quality or quantity? But, it's not about what we want, it's about what the AMFC wants for us.

I do seem to recall there was 1 or 2 years where the NJ striped bass regulations was 1 or 2 between 28-34 or 35”s and 1 at 42 or 43”s or better——or something alone those lines. But I might be mistaken.

[Capt Sal]

Originally Posted by Billfish715

Gerry or someone, please refresh my memory about the striped bass regulations from about 20 years ago. I remember being allowed to keep slot fish from 26" to 28" or somewhere close to that. I'm not sure exactly, but I know the limit was two stripers somewhere in that size range. In fact, there may have even been a bonus fish included making the total 3 stripers.

Can someone refresh my memory, please? My point is that there were liberal regulations during a time when striper numbers were recovering. The stocks did not seem to be affected because we celebrated some phenomenal catches of large stripers years later. Maybe there is a method to allowing fishermen to catch/keep slot fish without destroying future breeder stocks. Again, do we want quality or quantity? But, it's not about what we want, it's about what the AMFC wants for us.

2 At 28'' and one 24' but less than 28'' total of three.

[NJ Dave]

Stripers being a "game fish".... why can't every state be on the same size limit ? Just make it one size all around

[Billfish715]

Originally Posted by Capt Sal

2 At 28'' and one 24' but less than 28'' total of three.

I'm pretty sure it was one between 24"&28" AND one 28" or more. If you had a bonus tag, you could take one more over 28". That was 20 years ago. Those liberal regs did not seem to affect the striper stocks from 10 years ago. Maybe they are worth considering given the abundant slot sized stripers from this past fall.

There is more support for the theory that the YOY ( young of year) might have better survival rates with fewer newly hatched fry with which to compete for food. Those same theorists suggest that too many YOY will actually prevent development of the fry causing bigger mortality rates. The harvest of stripers across various age groups is gaining some momentum.

Gerry's point about release mortality should be considered since releasing larger stripers is far more likely to result in much higher mortality figures. Smaller stripers evidently survive at higher rates upon release.