Striped bass are underfed, not overfished
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, or ASMFC, has determined (again!) that the number of spawning Atlantic striped bass is below the required threshold to maintain proper “recruitment” (newborns), and therefore, sustainable population abundance.,, Certainly, there is a lot of blame to go around, but the ASMFC seems to have only one conclusion: overfishing.,,, What about food?,,, This may be a shocking finding, but foreign-owned Cooke Inc., the owner of Omega Protein, “purse seins” hundreds of millions of pounds of menhaden a year,,, by Bev Landstreet >click to read< 09:36
The utter ignorance of the individual who wrote this nonsense is astounding…at a minimum. The decline in FSSB and total biomass of striped bass is documented as per the latest 66 SAW report directly due to private vessel and shore mode harvest and outrageously troubling DM (discard mortality) as presented the peer-review and later at the ASMFC meetings during 2019,
This is also not a eco-system based issue with a lack of forage bait, nor anything to due with the current status of the menhaden stock which the yearly NEAMAP inshore trawl and ChesMAP surveys have not reported any declines in abundance, or with the latest 2017 stock assessment reporting no over fishing nor the stock being over fished, contrary to what this blovator seems to be indicating to the reader.
One also should point out the fake news comment by this writer and these particular statements:
“Over the last few decades, water quality has significantly improved in estuaries like the Narragansett Bay and the Chesapeake Bay,”
Where is the citation of a water quality improvement in the Chesapeake Bay at this time? Maybe they should of done a little research and would of found this news article from May of 2019 in the Chesapeake Bay Journal, ‘Report: Low Health Score Rains on Chesapeake Bay Recovery’ and this particular statement, to wit:
“The estuary’s overall health score in 2018 dropped from 54 percent to 46 percent but retained its “C” grade for a seventh consecutive year, according to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s latest report card.”
Or this statement later in the story, to wit:
“Almost all regions saw water quality declines in 2018, though. The greatest deterioration took place in the Elizabeth River, the southeastern Virginia tributary where the overall health score fell from 46% to 21%. For the first time since 2014, the Patapsco and Back rivers in the Baltimore area received an “F” grade, falling to 19%.”
Nonetheless these days we are bombarded with eco-agenda driven propaganda and fake editorial commentary which has no scientific grounding or data to support the narrative on the current decline of the striped bass biomass. Hopefully the public will understand that the current diminished biomass state of striped bass from its peak a decade ago has been driven by recreational private vessel and shore bound modes harvest and discards as reported by official NMFS – MRIP estimates, and this is where the Commissioners on the ASFMC striped bass management board should focus their regulatory attention for the striped bass stock to increase in the near future.
Maybe the ASMFC should include “ Interruptions : Cooke INC., Foreign Entity Disruption through Purse Seins Fishing Results Impacting Fisheries” in
the Next Meeting. Limits should be Two Days per Month, 4 HOURS ONLY Each Day, Per EACH Atlantic States Coastline and Size of PURSE SEINS
REDUCED IN SIZE BY 3/4 . All Atlantic States should be given FIRST OPTION ON FISHING, which has not been done or even attempted. Foreign
Owned Companies need to be put into check where they tread upon the Atlantic Fishing Grounds. Overfishing is not an individual on a jetty with kids
fishing. ASMFC needs to direct their attention on the cause of UNDER FED CATCHES due to the ridiculous Foreign Owned Companies like COOKE INC.