A poor year for juvenile striped bass in Virginia waters in 2024

Preliminary results from an ongoing long-term survey conducted by researchers at William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences suggest a poor year class of young-of-year striped bass was produced in the Virginia tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay in 2024. The 2024-year class, representing fish hatched this spring, will reach fishable sizes in three to four years.

The VIMS Juvenile Striped Bass Seine Survey recorded a mean value of 3.43 fish per seine haul in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay. The 2024 value is significantly lower than the historic average of 7.77 fish per seine haul and marks the second consecutive year of below-average recruitment in Virginia tributaries.

Consecutive years of poor recruitment deviate from the pattern observed in recent decades by the long-term monitoring program. Since the striped bass fishing moratorium was lifted in 1990, years with low recruitment have occurred about once every decade in Virginia waters. Although striped bass recruitment can vary considerably from year to year, consecutive years of poor recruitment raise concerns.

Striped bass are an important top predator in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and a valuable resource for commercial and recreational anglers. Mary Fabrizio, a professor at W&M’s Batten School at VIMS, directs the Juvenile Striped Bass Seine Survey at VIMS and notes that the economic and ecological values of striped bass lend significant interest to the year-to-year status of their population.

The survey samples waters from 18 historically sampled sites (index stations) and 22 auxiliary sites along the shores of the James, York, and Rappahannock rivers.

“By estimating the relative number of young-of-year striped bass, our survey provides an important measure of annual and long-term trends in the Bay’s striped bass population,” said Fabrizio.

The VIMS survey samples 18 index sites in the Rappahannock, York and James River systems. Scientists sample each site five times from mid-June to early September, deploying a 100-foot seine net from the shore. Captured fish are counted, measured and returned alive to the river. These young striped bass usually measure between one-and-a-half and four inches. In 2024, scientists in Virginia measured 585 juvenile striped bass at index sites.

VIMS has conducted the Juvenile Striped Bass Seine Survey annually since 1967 for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.