Commercial Striped Bass Season Opens

Commercial striped bass season opened on Sunday with mixed reviews from fishermen. Fishmongers, however, are happy to have the desirable fish in stock again for the Island’s many interested customers.

Striped bass is a highly regulated fishery, especially on the commercial side. Last year the season come to a quick end on August 9 when fishermen reached their allowable catch about a month after the season opened.

In order to prolong the season as much as possible, fishermen are only allowed to catch striped bass on certain days. Rod and reel fishermen who have a commercial striped bass permit are allowed to pursue the fish on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. They have a bag limit of five fish on Sunday and 30 fish on the three other remaining days. The minimum size is 34 inches.

The total allowable catch for Massachusetts commercial striped bass anglers this year is 997,869 pounds, down from 2012.

Recreational fishermen have no specified season, but they also have a substantially smaller bag limit. They may catch two striped bass per day at a minimum size of 28 inches.

Louis Larsen of the Net Result fish market said he knows of fishermen having a hard time, but he also knows a few who have had success since the season opened earlier this week. Mr. Larsen said angler Jeffrey Canha showed up at his store on Wednesday morning with a 54-pound striped bass. It was one of eight fish he brought in, he said, the smallest being 45 pounds.

Sandra Healy of John’s Fish Market in Tisbury said she got her first striped bass on Sunday from one of her favorite anglers, Scott Terry.

Michael Holtham, local seafood coordinator with the wholesale seafood handler Menemsha Fish House, said fish were landed on Sunday and Tuesday, but the numbers were lower than he and the anglers would like.

“We didn’t get that many,” said Mr. Holtham on Wednesday. On Tuesday, they saw a dozen fish.

Of course, it’s not just striped bass that was highly prized this week. Mr. Holtham reported he saw the first yellowfin tuna on Monday.

Menemsha Fish House bought seven of them. “It was all sold by noon time” the next day, Mr. Holtham said.

Perhaps an explanation of why the commercial quota is down this year? Because it was overfilled in 2012 and needed to be adjusted to make up the difference. And while the commercial quota has remained steady, recreational catches have plummeted by nearly 75% since 2006. The picture described above is one of a fishery in trouble. It is not "highly regulated, especially on the commercial side," it is poorly regulated, with a heavy bias on the commercial side. Every objective source will tell you that the striped bass population is in trouble. The most recent spawn was the worst ever recorded and even Massachusetts' own Marine Fisheries director recommended a reduction in the quota -- but he was out-voted by the commercial interests that dominate the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's striped bass council. In Massachusetts the number of fishermen commercially licensed to sell striped bass who will actually sell a fish is about 2,500, yet more than 600,000 people fish for stripers recreationally. And the economic impact of recreational striped bass fishing in Massachusetts is nearly 40 times greater. Why then do we manage this important fish as a commercial resource? The fair and logical thing to do in order to protect striped bass for the greater public good would be to make it a game fish.

A striped bass swimming in the ocean has a much greater economic value than one in the fish market. Fresh farm raised striped bass can be sold all year long. Hundreds of thousands of recreational anglers come to Massachusetts each year to catch striped bass. We book hotel rooms, eat in local restaurants, buy gas, use marinas and bait and tackle shops. Only 2,500 hundred commercially licensed fishermen sell striped bass. Whether it is the Vineyard, Nantucket, the Cape, the south shore or north shore, recreational anglers are pouring much more money into the local economy. But, the striper population is fished too heavily. As Mr. Spinney pointed out Massachusetts' own manager of marine fisheries has recommended that both the commercial and recreational limits be dropped. As a recreational angler I have written the director, the Governor and my state rep and senator and begged them to cut the limit for recreational anglers from two to one fish per day and to cut the commercial harvest and make striped bass a gamefish. In Florida each year thousands of anglers spend millions of dollars pursuing tarpon, bonefish, redfish and snook which are all managed as gamefish. But that commercial interests have prevailed here in Mass and nothing has changed. The current class of "keeper" striped bass come primarily from 2003 which was a terrific breeding year. It is getting harder and harder to catch "keepers" unless you are in the right place at the right time. This has been especially true on the North Shore where we keep our boat. But we trailered it to the Cape for the upcoming week and my family and I will continue to stimulate the economy. I just hope that stripers are there next year and the year after that to continue to attract anglers.

Time to make the Striper a game fish and stop the commercial fishery. Put the quota to one per day and make the keeper size 32 inch min.

I just love reading Mark Allen Lovewell's articles! They are written in a way that makes me feel as if I am almost there, experiencing the joy and the beauty of the Vineyard and the beautiful waters that surround it.

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Comments (4)

Mike Spinney, Massachusetts

July 19, 2013 - 9:37am

Ted Purcell, Massachusetts

July 19, 2013 - 1:06pm

Paulli D, Edgartown

July 21, 2013 - 9:34am

Ken Armstrong, Rochester, NY

August 13, 2013 - 4:52pm

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