After the grim news coming out of the Maryland Chesapeake Bay juvenile survey a glimmer of hope from Virginia.
The Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s annual count of young striped bass once again yielded a number higher than the historic average.
But the significant increase — 13.89 fish per sample, compared to last year’s 9.54 and the historical average of 7.77 from 1980 to 2009 — may be a fluke of bad weather and the pandemic, VIMS cautioned.
The survey has yielded results above that historic average for eight years running. It counts juveniles — typically 1-1/2 to 4 inches long — that will grow to the size fishermen want to catch in three to four years.
LINK (via: Daily Press)
