It is expected that popular striped bass would soon be off limits in Massachusetts as the authorities considering a proposal to ban its fishing. It is told that the bill would ban the commercial catch of striped bass in state waters and limit recreational fishermen to taking home one striped bass per day – down from two – while imposing new size restrictions.
The main reason behind this ban is that there is a fear of a population crash by allowing commercial fishermen to pluck out the most productive stripers – large females. Craig Caldwell, a recreational fisherman and member of Stripers Forever, said that they managed to crash the fish once before, why do we want to let them do it again?
Darren Saletta, a commercial fisherman from Chatham, said the bill is being driven by Stripers Forever’s “greedy intention of retaining the entire catch for their recreational side.” It is true that stripers are popular among sport fishermen because they can be tough to catch and are fiery fighters when hooked.
Fishermen are protective of the stripers because they saw the stock collapse to about 5 million fish in 1982, before rebounding to an estimated 56 million in 2007, according to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which manages stripers on the Atlantic coast. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Matthew Patrick, D-Falmouth, said a healthy striper stock is worth about $1 billion to the state’s tourism business, and keeping it robust is essential.
Ben Martens, a policy analyst for the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association, opined hat the dropping catch is not a sign of an unhealthy stock, but a changing environment that’s moving the stock away from fishermen.
