When I say ASMFC made a choice, I mean that very literally in that they ignored the public entirely. Though we had a long time leading up to the end of the comment period on Draft Addendum VI and the bulk of the public comment both in writing and at meetings was in support of 1@35", so few people actually voiced their opinion (roughly 1000 total comments coastwide) that the council used the low number of comments as an excuse to make a decision that differed from the one the majority of the public wanted. As of 10/30/19, ASMFC voted that starting in 2020, the coast wide standard regulation on striped bass will be a slot limit of one striped bass between 28 and 35". Because "conservation equivalency" will remain a standard, some states may choose a different set of regulations provided they can offer up a plan with evidence that their own regulations will hold up to the standards ASMFC have set. This idea have conservation equivalency has repeatedly resulted in some states taken far more than their far share of striped bass. I was hoping to see conservation equivalency nixed during this session but had no real expectation that it would happen. So we can fully expect less conservation aimed states to continue on that path. Mandatory non-offset circle hook use with bait has also been chosen, to be enacted in 2021, and this is a good move but not enough coupled with the rest of these decisions. None of the options were great or even good. I was on board with 1@35" because 1@36" seemed to hold up well enough post-moratorium and because it would allow the strong 2015 year class to get to spawning size, but even that was a mediocre option in the long run. A 36-40" slot would have been much better, and a three year moratorium on keeping stripers (not a moratorium on fishing for stripers, and yes, that is a very important distinction) would have been ideal, but clearly was never going to be on the table.
So, public input was lacking, which was very disappointing. So many people take part in and care about the striped bass fishery. Way, way more than 1000 people. It wasn't as though it was hard. Not everyone can take the time out of their day to get to a public meeting, I get it. I couldn't get to either of CT's. I guarantee more could have though. And everybody should have the time to take 5 minutes to write and send an email, short but just personalized enough not to be tossed aside as a form letter (it seems that's what they do). If you pay attention to striped bass fishing and conservation at all it was impossible to avoid seeing the email address to send comments to and suggestions for what comments to make at some point during this summer and early fall. So if we couldn't all get that done, what are we left with now? That was so simple, so straightforward, and yet so few people took initiative. Now that the decision has been made the avenues to make our voices heard aren't as clear and don't all channel in the same direction. A lot of people saying the same thing to the same group is a lot more effective then fewer voices saying slightly different things in all different directions and that's pretty much what we have now. That concerns me. What I've seen in the last couple days in the wake of the decision from even some of the most conservation minded striped bass anglers I know, is a lack of direction and arguments that won't gain traction. And I don't really know the solution, though I have some ideas. For right now, the best I can say is we are not done here, not by a long shot, and if you are ready to stop fighting, I'm sorry but you can't. We need you now more than ever. So please pay attention to the bigger groups in this fight, groups like American Saltwater Guides Association and if they say to write a letter or an email or make a phone call, DO IT. If you're the type to really take initiative, start writing and calling state representatives now, just make sure your argument is clear, cogent and won't turn people away. To be clear, I think fighting hard and fast for a moratorium now is not a smart move. But making it clear to everyone that has any sort of say that the ASMFC's actions ignoring the public are unacceptable and making it clear that the bar needs to be raised on the speed with which action is taken on any over-fished fishery will help. You can say just that : "ASMFC's actions in regards to Striped Bass Draft Addendum VI during their last session are unacceptable. They asked for public comment then completely ignored it. The Commission needs to be held accountable for their decision and their lack of real, strong actions to rebuild overfished fisheries." Take that, use that. Please.
Politicians like to drag their feet. If we do too, we can say goodbye to healthy sustainable fisheries.
Until next time.
Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, john, Elizabeth, Chris, Brandon, and Christopher, for supporting this blog on Patreon.
Politicians like to drag their feet. If we do too, we can say goodbye to healthy sustainable fisheries.
Until next time.
Fish for the love of fish.
Fish for the love of places fish live.
Fish for you.
Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, john, Elizabeth, Chris, Brandon, and Christopher, for supporting this blog on Patreon.
We have a very cynical voting public. People react to this sentiment:
ReplyDelete" short but just personalized enough not to be tossed aside as a form letter (it seems that's what they do)"
by not bothering. Why bother? Going in the bin anyway...that's the sentiment.
It has to be given at least a cursory glance to even be deemed binable, so that rationale just ain't going to cut it. If there was more public response, it would have been taken into consideration.
DeleteI'm not an expert on the science of fisheries management. I think I understand the concept of larger breeding females make more babies, and the concept of a slot being that then you don't take larger breeding females. Where to put the slot? Do you ensure that the lower bound is above the "floor" size for first or second year breeders? I think this is how snook slots work? Where is that number?
ReplyDeleteWhen you linked to the report some weeks ago I read it and remember there were three different proposals. It looks like they chose to use the one that uses the smallest sized minimum fish.
I think you could probably elaborate on your rationale, the 2015 year class and its significance and much else. Also, I was doing some reading and came across a stocking program run by state of Maryland? Are some of our striped bass actually stocked fish?
This is possibly another reason more people don't write. I'm no expert, but I understand the value of expertise...and don't want to be persuasive without actually knowing something.
On the other hand I think of Feynman and his anecdote about the "great men" at Los Alamos. If you haven't listened to that or read it in his autobiography (the latter is essentially a transcription of some talks he gave) it is great:
https://youtu.be/hTRVlUT665U?t=329
start at 5:29
I see snook used so often as a reason to use a slot for stripers and what kind of slot to use. I've always found this absurd. Snook are protandrous hermaphrodites, males may transition into females at any age between 1 and 7 years (12-35"). They can spawn at any point between April and October when the right conditions present themselves. They also reach sexual maturity quickly (males 1 year, female 2-3 years). I don't think I need to expand much on that... what works to manage snook won't necessarily work for striped bass, they are very different. FL's slot limit (27-34 inches) protects sexually immature fish, young spawners for a number of years, and big old spawners as well, meaning that the most abundant spawning age fish (the small younger ones) and the most genetically strong but less abundant ones (the big old females) are protected. That's not what 28-35" on striped bass will do.
DeleteThe 2015 year class is of vital importance to the current fishery because it is currently the only strongly represented year class. 2015 as a great spawning year in the Chesapeake. 2011 was as well, but the 2011 year class has already been heavily depleted. At 8 years old the 2011 class would be between about 30 and 34 inches. Fish that size would be all over the place if that year class hadn't already been depleted, but 32" striped bass are currently about as hard to find as fish from far poorer year classes. So what we've got left is a fair but not exceptional number of small fish from post 2015 spawns, a ton of 2015 schoolies, and a heavily depleted old spawning stock. Protecting what's left of the 40+ inch bass would be great if coupled with protecting the 2015 year class so that as many of that group make to to 40+ inches as possible. Having big, old, genetically strong egg wagons around is good, having a lot of them around is even better, but right now there aren't that many left to protect. So getting as many of the most abundant year class up to that size and above is imperative. This is why I've argued for a dynamic slot, one that moves in accordance with population trends. Right now, 36"-40" would be good, in another four years perhaps 26-32". All would depend on spawning success, winter kills, and other non-fishing related impacts. Fishing alone doesn't determine spawning success, especially with climate change and a severely polluted and degraded Chesapeake and Hudson. Get strong year classes through to be big an old egg producers and spawning will get more consistent anyway. Right now there aren't enough, and the only year class that can in 4 or 5 years time give us a whole bunch is going to find itself in the middle of the slot limit in just 2 years, where it WILL get hammered.
DeleteNo, none of "our" striped bass are stocked fish. Maryland has stocked stripers in some reservoirs. Even if they had stocked tidal systems, it's highly questionable to suggest those fish would figure out how to migrate the length of the coast.
As far as expertise being important, I'm not remotely an expert. I didn't know off the top of my head what FL's slot limit for snook was, or how long they take to mature and at what size, or if Maryland stocked striped bass. It took me seconds to get that information though. I listen to what the real experts say and do what they tell me. Anyone can do that. I linked ASWGA in this very post. Fissues has been linked in the bar to the right for a long time as well as Stripers Forever (not it mobile version). These are groups specifically there to make all this messy stuff digestible and push advocacy in the right direction. This is the age of information. It's so, so easy to find any piece of information you are looking for and make an informed decision. So it's just really hard for me to think people didn't submit public comments or go to the hearings because they didn't know enough. The cynical part of me, which is pretty strong right now, tells me they simply didn't care enough to put in the minimal time and effort it would take.
Rod and line angers in the UK can now take no common bass til 2020 havng only being able to have take one fish a day since July. Commercial boats in the same inshore waters have qoutas in metric tonnes. With discard of undesize and bass and by catch. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a commercial fishery really doing the damage... blame is often thrown at the commercial fishery in the US east coast striper fishery, despite the recreational fishery being 75% of the take.
Delete