In spite of the majority of public comments favoring a 35″ minimum size for harvesting striped bass the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board adopted a 28 to 35-inch slot limit. Not perfect but better than the status quo.
Then along came New Jersey.
Charles Witek explains how New Jersey was able to push the concept of “conservation equivalency” so that the Garden State will be able to adopt regulations to reduce its striped bass fishing mortality rate by only 18 percent as opposed to the 40% that would have been called for by the regulations.
And it gets worse.
New Jersey wants to reject the ASMFC’s 28 to 35-inch slot, with a 24 to 28- or 29-inch slot, which will directly target the 2014 and 2015 year classes, on which the future health of the fishery probably depends, and remove them from the water before they have a chance to spawn even once.
Anglers should be outraged.
LINK (via: One Angler’s Voyage)
