Concerns that numbers of rockfish, also called striped bass, remain low led state regulators along the Atlantic coast to push back against reducing triggers that cause cutoffs in the numbers that can be caught.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted last week to continue to look at adult fish mortality rates each year, rather than averaging the results over longer periods when considering whether to tighten rules on harvesting, which it supports. a multi-million dollar recreational fishing industry in Virginia. as well as an important commercial fishery.
The continued extraction of Menhaden from the Bay will eventually decimate the Striped Bass population like it did to the Bluefish