The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) approved measures to reduce striped bass fishing mortality in the Chesapeake Bay, and along the Atlantic Coast. The measures are a reaction to a decline in the population of rockfish. Biologists working in the fishery have determined rocks are currently being overfished.
The actions will make coast-wide changes prior to the 2020 fishing season.
This action comes as Virginia’s fishery board closed their recreational trophy season. At Tuesday’s meeting, a member of the Virginia delegation mentioned the possibility that Virginia may consider issuing mandatory tags that anglers would need to keep just one trophy rockfish, 36 inches or longer.
Final options under consideration in the addendum are:
- Minimum fish sizes for the coast and the Chesapeake Bay.
- Slot limit to prohibit the harvest of fish over 40 inches.
- Mandatory use of circle hooks when fishing with bait to reduce discard mortality.
- A provision to allow seasonal closures in conservation equivalency proposals.
- Reductions applied equally to both commercial and recreational sectors.
The ASMFC will ask for public feedback and adjust the plan before making a final decision at its October meeting.
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I don’t fish anymore. Those things swim too fast for me to catch at my age ! Shellfishing is my thing these days. HA ! BUT, I am glad to see that the ASMFC is starting, AND I HOPE WILL CONTINUE, to make all fishing regulations the same for commercial and sport fishing. The ASMFC and all it’s related fishing authorities have ruined my attitude towards sport fishing. RUINED IT. Can you tell ? I am not the only one am I ? If they do not start making all sport and commercial size regulations the same, then they will simply continue to be full of —-.
I know it’s really hard for the commercial guys to do so, but I can’t fix that. We are all Americans. We all fish the same waters and eat the same fish and no one has more rights to a fish sorted by size than another. Or so I would think. Are the regulations supposed to be fair or not ? If the fish have to be sorted commercially by size, then they may as well have to sort them to the same size as sport fishermen. Who takes more and affects the fish population more ? But it shouldn’t matter. Any regulation that allows commercial to keep different, bigger or smaller size than sport fishing, should be illegal, unconstitutional, and a prejudiced decision by a government authority that is supposed to treat us all equally. How about some equal justice for all fishermen ? To get trendy, and politically correct, how about I put it this way ? The emotional lives, and legal rights, of sport fishermen matter, right ? Not to mention that such a fair decision by the ASMFC would also make it much simpler for our Marine Police to enforce regulations. Why make their job easier, right ?