In Amendment 5, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission declared that the Striped Bass fishery is completely recovered. The National Marine Fisheries Service has testified before Congress that the Striped Bass fishery is completely recovered. JCAA has always been skeptical and saw this declaration as premature. Now, the Striped Bass Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has reviewed the current stock assessment date August 1999 and has determined that we have exceeded the target fishing mortality of .31 and are at or near the overfishing number of .38.

This means that the Striped Bass Board will be considering various options to decrease the catch of Striped Bass to bring us within the accepted guidelines under the present amendment. At this time, an addendum to Amendment 5, previously up for discussion, has been put on hold.

At the end of this discussion I have listed the options that were placed before the Striped Bass Board for review by the Striped Bass Technical Committee. The purpose of this review is to determine which, if any, of these options would result in the required cutbacks.

We can add to the options being reviewed by the Technical Committee. Since JCAA has always expressed concerns about the decisions made under Amendment 5, we are unwilling to accept any cutbacks that are based on the commercially biased administration of Amendment 5. When Amendment 5 was first proposed and was discussed at public hearings, the commercial fisheries along the coast would have been allowed an increase from 20% to 40% of their base years. The recreational catch would remain at 2 fish at 28 inches, the same catch allowed when the fishery was reopened in 1991. JCAA and many other groups suggested a unified bay and coast size limit of 24 inches for both the commercial and recreational anglers. This was rejected. After the public hearings were completed, the Striped Bass Board determined that maintaining the recreational catch at 2 fish at 28 inches would allow the Board to increase the coastal commercial catch to 70% of the base years. At the time, the representatives of the Technical Committee assured us that their projections supported this move and that these changes would not result in any overfishing. Once again, our efforts at conservation allowed the Striped Bass Board to squander our savings by increasing the commercial catch. By using additional models and continuing their commercial bias, the Board allowed additional increases in the catch of small fish in the producing areas. In the producing areas of Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay, the historical commercial users have been allowed to exceed the base years. Delaware's commercial fishermen are harvesting well over 100% of their base years. This is why we are unwilling to accept the options suggested by the Striped Bass Board. Those options are based on their traditional commercial bias and once again place the most restrictions on the very anglers who have been conserving fish. JCAA will request that our representatives to the ASMFC submit additional options. The options which we want reviewed by the Technical Committee for the Striped Bass Board's consideration, include:

1. The ASMFC Striped Bass Board should cutback the commercial catch along the coast and in the Chesapeake Bay to a percentage that will accomplish the necessary goals.

2. The ASMFC Striped Bass Board should require all of the participating states to implement a percentage reduction of their total commercial and recreational catch to obtain the necessary goals.

Option one is the JCAA preferred option. I can already hear the screams of protest from the commercial community. Commercial fishermen caused the problem by overfishing with the permission of the Striped Bass Board. Now they need to solve the problem by taking the necessary cutbacks. Those of us who fished for Striped Bass in the base years (1972-1979) know that we haven't gotten a recovered fishery. If we ask these anglers about what fish they keep, we find that we are no where near 100%, or 70%, or 50%. We probably aren't taking home 1% of what we caught and kept during the base years. Since 1990, I have taken home a total of less than 20 fish. I used to keep that many in one trip in New York or two trips in New Jersey during the base years. The point is, we're not the problem and should not have to cut back further to solve a problem caused by the continuing commercial bias on the Striped Bass Board. There are over 2 million recreational anglers, each entitled to an equal personal harvest of this resource. The current management plan has returned the catch of most commercial fishermen to their former levels, while the 28 inch minimum size has kept most coastal recreational anglers from attaining any real catch at all. This is poor public policy and very unfair to private citizens fishing for their own use. Until we can allow personal use anglers to retain a modest, daily bag limit of Striped Bass, all cuts should come from the commercial sector. I ask that you call, fax and email your Commissioners and asked them to support JCAA's Option 1.

Striped Bass Board Motions
August 5, 1999

Proposed Timeline for Year 2000 Actions on Implementing Reductions in the Striped Bass Fishery:

Board Meeting late August or early September 1999
Technical Committee September 1999
Board Meeting early October 1999
Public Hearings mid-October 1999
Advisory Panel late October 1999
Board Meeting November 1999

Options for Technical Committee Evaluation:

· Bag limit/season table option
· Analysis to evaluate all states going to 1 fish
· Evaluation of CCA proposal
· Reduction of current commercial quotas and any other fisheries with
direct allocations
· Evaluate producer areas staying at status quo (bag limits)
· Evaluation of slot limits for all fisheries by producer and coastal areas
(2 fish total, 1 fish at 20" - 26" 1 fish at 40" or larger)
· Evaluate options to reduce recreational discards
· What is the total harvest at F=.31?