Striped bass fishermen have once again confirmed a significant decline in angling success all along the Atlantic Coast, according to the results of the 2014 Annual Fishing Survey conducted by Stripers Forever. “Nearly 90 percent of the anglers who responded to our survey said they caught fewer fish in 2014 than in previous years, and 71 percent said the fish they did catch were smaller,” said Brad Burns, president of Stripers Forever, a conservation organization that advocates game fish status for wild striped bass. “The survey response from 830 anglers – most of whom have fished stripers seriously for more than 10 years – has been increasingly negative since 2006.”
Pressured by frustrated anglers and guides up and down the coast, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has finally imposed a 25 percent reduction in the recreational and commercial harvest of striped bass coast wide (21.5 percent in the Chesapeake Bay) for 2015. Whether or not that decision is too little too late remains to be seen. The Stripers Forever survey clearly shows that the organization’s members want fishery managers to go much further by banning the harvest of large, prime breeding size stripers until the resource biomass stock is healthier. The survey respondents also favor setting aside a high percentage of the current commercial harvest quota for conservation and they are willing to finance a striped bass conservation stamp to pay for buying out the commercial fishery.
The continuing decline in striper fishing is also hurting the guiding industry and related fishing tourism and tackle businesses. Candid comments from guides and anglers as well as other highlights from the survey can be reviewed at https://www.stripersforever.org/2014-annual-angler-survey-results/.
Stripers Forever sends the complete results of its member surveys to fishery policy makers in every Atlantic Coast state. For more information about the survey, please email Brad Burns at stripers@stripersforever.org.