Atlantic striped bass are in trouble again. And not unlike American bankers and investors who are hyper-monitoring stock markets these days, fishermen and federal regulators alike are paying extra close attention to the trends and indicators for this historically important game fish.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission met early this month to discuss a 2018 benchmark stock assessment prepared late last year for striped bass. Although the report was still in draft form and had not received final approval due to the government shutdown, it shows clearly that the stocks are in a state of decline. The stock assessment is highly technical but the main theme of the report is clear: overfishing is the cause of the decline. That’s a change from two years earlier, and regulators are preparing to take steps to reverse the trend. The commission’s striped bass board meets again in May, when it is expected that the report will be approved and a new fishery management plan will be set in motion.

Catch reductions, raising minimum size limits and other restrictions are all expected to be on the table for discussion.

“We know it is going to be pretty drastic,” John Clark, a member of the ASFMC striped bass board from Delaware told the Bay Journal, a nonprofit newspaper based in the Chesapeake, this week.

For striped bass fishermen on Martha’s Vineyard, the news comes as little surprise. Experienced anglers know what they have been seeing out on the water — fewer big fish, which means fewer breeding females, and they’re concerned.

Many of them have been here before.

Overfishing led to the collapse of striped bass stocks in the 1980s. It was so bad in those years that between 1985 and 1993 bass were removed from the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby.

Today many more complicating factors are tied to the decline of striped bass, including warming waters due to climate change and disappearing baitfish populations such as menhaden, thought to be due to offshore factory ships.

At the same time, advances in technology have also improved the science for monitoring fish stocks, hopefully leading to decision-making by regulators that is better informed.

And there is always more to learn.

For example, while the vast majority of the striped bass landed by recreational fishermen today are caught and released, the mortality rate is growing. As a result new rules are being proposed that include circle hooks for fishermen who use bait, and a ban on the practice of gaffing for landing fish.

Meanwhile, conservation-minded fishing groups are beginning to take symbolic action that’s a little reminiscent of the derby in the 1980s.

Organizers of The Striper Cup, an annual tournament hosted by On the Water magazine, announced early this month that there will be no weigh-in this year. Instead anglers will compete for prizes through photographs of fish that are caught and released.

Whether the Vineyard derby should follow suit is a question best left to the organizers.

But writing late last year for Fissues.org, an online news and opinion site devoted to fishing and conservation, Tony Friedrich summed up the plight of the stripers in poignant terms. “It rests on our shoulders and ours alone to make sure the striped bass population recovers,” he wrote. “It will take a herculean effort to turn the tide. But we can do it. Do we have any other choice?

“Striped bass have given us all countless good memories. They have taught our children countless lessons about the ocean and how to care for it. They have helped forge friendships. They have created a mutual bond across the coast.”