All fishing for striped bass in Maryland, Pennsylvania and the Potomac River could face a shutdown, unless fisheries managers in Atlantic coast states can resolve issues over how to meet new catch limits.
After an at-times testy debate, the striped bass management board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted March 26 to reject plans by Maryland and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission over how they would meet required commercial catch reductions. It also rejected Pennsylvania’s plan because it sought to delay imposition of mandated recreational catch limits.
The Atlantic states commission, which regulates inshore fishing for migratory species, voted in January to tighten both recreational and commercial catches of the fish commonly known in the Chesapeake Bay region as rockfish. They did so in response to a worrisome spike in the recreational catch along the coast in 2022, along with a five-year stretch of poor reproduction of the fish in the Bay, their primary spawning and nursery grounds.
Under rules scheduled to take effect May 1, recreational anglers will be limited to just one fish per day within narrow minimum and maximum size limits. Commercial fishers face a 7% reduction in their annual quota.
If you go into the ocean, into federal waters you get fined for catching them. But commercial trawlers can come in and scoop every single one of them up…and they do. I’m talking 40+” fish…the breeders. It’s not recreational fisherman doing this.