As a graduate student who conducts research om striped bass and currently resides in Maryland I feel a need to clarify what the regualtions are down here and why they are set up this way. Chesapeake Bay is primarily a nursery area for striped bass. Most
of the fish here are under 18 inches in length with few fish over 20 lb. As the stripers grow they leave the Chesapeake Bay and enter the coastal fishery. Fishery surveys indicate that by the time striped bass spawned in the Bay tributaries reach 40 in
ches in length 99% have recruited to the coastal fishery. The only times large fish are found in the Bay is on their spawning run in the Spring and a brief window in November-December when a few fish move into the lower Bay on their way to the outer bank
s. Basically, what we have in the Bay are large numbers of small fish.
As far as regulations go, Atlantic coastal regulations are the same as in MA -- 1 fish of 28 inches per day. Fishing in the Maryland portion of Chesapeake bay for stripers requires a Bay license (about $7.00) and a striper permit (about $2.00). In the
Maryland portion of the Bay there are 3 separate seasons. The Spring season targets large adults (36 inch min, 1 fish/day) as they leave the spawning grounds and head back down to the Atlantic. The season is opened only after biologists have determined
that the vast majority of spawners are on the spawning grounds in the tributaries. The tributaries themselves are closed to even C/R fishing at this time. The goal of this season is to provide a chance for anglers to catch a trophy fish, but only after
it has had a chance to spawn. The trophy season is followed by a Spring season where the size limit drops to something like 24 or 28 inches (I'm not sure which it is, sorry). The limit then is 1 per day. This season continues until around July 4 when w
ater temperatures get high enough that C/R mortality is a major problem. During the summer there is no open season on striped bass, although C/R fishing is tollerated, but not encouraged. The area directly below Conawingo dam at the head of the bay is c
losed even to C/R fishing of striped bass due to potentially high mortality rates after release (the higher the temperature and lower the salinity the bigger this problem is). The Fall season is opened when water temperatures drop again in September and
continues until a quota is reached. At this time is the much discussed 18 inch limit, 2 fish per day regulation.
IMHO the regualtions for striped bass in Chesapeake Bay cannot be the same as for the coastal fishery. A year-round 28 inch 1 fish limit would result in a lot of C/R mortality and a lot of disgruntled recreational fishermen who would argue (rightly or w
rongly) that we supply the spawning and rearing habitat for the fish, fight for cleaner water and a lower *body count* from the Commercial boys, yet they are not allowed to share in the resource. Believe me, if residents of the Bay watershed lost interes
t in striped bass and improving the water quality of the Bay and its tributaries the whole Northeast striper fishery would go down the drain. Right now there are signs of water quality degredation in DelMarva due to large scale chicken farms, with Physte
ria outbreaks confirmed on several rivers last summer. Without good habitat for spawning and nursery areas there will be no stripers left to manage.
I took the time to write this post because I think it is important to view the management of the striper fishery as a regional issue that requires fitting the role(s) each state's coastal habitat plays in the lifecycle of striped bass to provide a sustai
nable fishery for all. A *one size fits all* policy based on the summertime habits of adult fish would be detrimental to the fishery as a whole. Do you really want people chasing fish on the spawning grounds or catching 1 keeper to 50 short fish under c
onditions in which released fish will likely die? Contrary to some of what has been written in this thread Maryland's recreational striped bass regulations are not a threat to the resource. As a matter of fact, the complete closure of the fishery in Mar
yland for something like 5 years (?) was in large part responsable for the relatively good times we are seeing now. May I remind you that when Maryland shut down their fishery people were still selling their bass in Massachusetts.
Disclaimer: Since 99% of Chesapeake Bay striper fishing requires a boat and I have none I do very little striper fishing down here (I do occasionally fish from a dock behind storage tanks for asphalt and molasses in Baltimore harbor, but THAT's another st
ory... ;-) ). Most of my striper fishing is done up your way on Nanatucket, so it's in my personal best interest to see big fish up there. You will note that I did not address the commercial fishin issue (Maryland anglers have tried twice to get striped
bass designated a sport fish and have failed), or why the fish seem to be getting smaller (see my posts in November archives). I just wanted to challenge the notion being bantered about here that Maryland's regulation of recreational angling for striped
bass is hurting the quality of the coastal fishery.
Regards,
Eric Lund