The latest ASMFC stock assessment indicates a coastwide overharvest of stripers. Particularly on the older / larger fish. Eventually a correction in landings will have to be made but the Striped Bass Management Board has refused to do so for this coming season.
The effort to open federal waters (the EEZ) to striped bass harvest has been tabled for one year by the NMSF due to the looming overharvest issue. We need to keep the pressure on our fishery managers to keep this federal water closure in place. Opening the EEZ has the potential to negatively effect the recreational striped bass fishery for generations to come.
Saltwater fishing license chatter is continuing here in Maine. A draft proposal might be put together by as early as this fall. Please join me in supporting this effort. Many other coastal states are currently showing huge benefits from having such licenses. The license would be structured (as in other states) in a way that clients fishing with a guide or captain would be covered under a "boat license" and would not need to purchase an individual saltwater license.
Last year's federal groundfish cutbacks will continue to allow the coastal stocks to grow. As these stocks recover, the recreational angler will have to be very vocal to assure that what was once a huge fishery is allowed to reappear. There has been an allocation shift to the commercial because many recreational fishers have stopped groundfishing due to nonexistent inshore stocks. Without speaking out, the recovery of the inshore groundfish stocks will go to the Portland Fish Exchange through commercial harvest and not into the coolers of the recreational angler - Can you say "Public Resource"...