I received the below note from Brad Burns who runs Stripers Forever. Some good suggestions for the ASMFC regarding Striped Bass management.

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Stripers Forever members – recently the ASMFC – the interstate fishery commission responsible for managing striped bass – invited public comments on its next 5 year strategic plan. We submitted the following comments.
Brad Burns

The board of directors of Stripers Forever, a nonprofit corporation with approximately 14,000 members largely concentrated within the Atlantic coast north of the Carolinas, offers the following comments regarding the Strategic Plan of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

1. We think the Commission is too liberal regarding allowable harvest parameters. And as a direct consequence, many managed species are in poor condition. Therefore we strongly urge the Commission to take a more proactive stance regarding harvest restrictions. Pressure, largely from commercial harvesters, has caused both the NEFMC and ASMFC to rationalize overharvest until the realities of low stocks finally mandate a lower fishing effort. The disastrous state of northeast ground fish stocks is one clear example. The ASMFC’s handling of shad is another one. The persistent downward trend of shad stocks has been evident for many years, but large scale harvesting of the species was not stopped.
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Who did not see this coming? Over harvesting combined with diminishing forage food sources like the over harvesting by commerical interests of herring stocks in the northeast = Bluefin Tuna in big trouble. Why in the world don’t we get the idea of lowering harvests to sustainable levels before there is a collapse in a species  is beyond me. If we did then we would at least have a fishery, instead we choose to just keep on harvesting forage fish and bigger fish like bluefin and then have to close the whole freaking fishery because its about to go away if we do not and now we all get nada for many many years. It hurts all of us, recreational anglers and commerical anglers together, we all lose.

Mark another species up for the “crisis management” fishery management technique.
If you are interested in learning more about bluefin tuna and/or helping with their recovery check out Tag a Giant Foundation.

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Coastal Conservation Assocaition National Office Press Release

The Coastal Conservation Association Board of Directors is calling for Atlantic harvest levels of bluefin tuna to be reduced to levels supported by science and is urging the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) to require all member nations to adopt such quotas by emergency action.
If ICCAT refuses to do so, CCA believes that the only alternative is a complete closure of the Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery and an international curtailment of trade. The call to action was outlined in a letter from CCA National Chairman Walter W. Fondren III to Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne.

“Many marine scientists believe bluefin are on the verge of a stock collapse, and there are indications here in the US that the stock has already crashed,” said Robert G. Hayes, CCA general counsel.  “Sometimes all you are left with is the truth, and the painful truth now is that nothing less than emergency action can reverse the years of overfishing that resulted from exceeding quotas that in themselves were set too high.”
Tuna range throughout the Atlantic from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Mexico. As one of the most valuable fish in the sea, bluefin tuna are targeted throughout their range by the fishing fleets of many nations while fishery managers on either side of the Atlantic have been unable or unwilling to agree on an effective recovery plan. Catches from the eastern stock of bluefin, spawned in the Mediterranean, have exceeded scientific advice by almost 400 percent for at least the last five years. Rebuilding plans for the western stock, spawned in the Gulf of Mexico, have also been a complete failure, with the U.S. unable to catch its quota for the past three years.

“The focus has been on the business side of this fishery for far too long and greed has been the driving force in its management,” said Charles Witek, vice chairman of CCA’s National Government Relations Committee. “CCA has long known that focusing on anything other than the health of the resource is the first step to ensuring its demise. Bluefin are another tragic example of what happens when you put business and fishermen first.”

The moratorium would have to be adopted by the member nations of ICCAT, a United Nations chartered fishery organization responsible for the conservation of such recreationally and commercially important species as tuna, swordfish and marlin in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas. The organization was established by treaty in 1969 and is the only organization that can undertake the range of work required for the study and management of tunas and other key migratory species in the Atlantic.
“As is so often the case, the American fisherman is not responsible for driving bluefin tuna to the brink of collapse, but they are going to have to be a part of the solution to salvage what is left,” said Dr. Russell Nelson, CCA’s Gulf fisheries consultant.

While recreational anglers and conservation organizations are focused on getting harvesting regulations changed for fish populations such as oysters, crabs, and other fish species in the Chesapeake Bay, we need not take our eye off the what I have to come to believe is the main cause of the situation, lack of habitat and terrible water quality.  The fish are mere canaries in the coal mine.  I have long  been an advocate of getting harvest reductions. My argument is this; water quality and habitat is going down, clearly we need to do something to change this, however we first, or also at the same time, need to reduce harvest limits. If we do not reduce harvest limits and instead just focus only on cleaning up the water, by the time we clean up the water there will be no fish because we harvested above the sustainable rate which essentially was lowered because of poor water quality. It all works together and both aspects need to be addressed.

The Choptank River located right in my back yard this past year has been diagnosed as the second most polluted river in Maryland. (see this article) I am embarrassed to even admit it and our public officials in Talbot, Dorchester and Caroline counties should be absolutly ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen. Everyone always wants to point the finger at Pennsylvania for the Cheesecake’s pollution issues. They are to blame for a large impact they have on the Susquehanna River that feeds the bay. But guess what, the Choptank problem can only be blamed on the citizens and public officials in Talbot, Dorchester and Caroline counties. The main source of the pollution, high nutrient levels. Where does that come from? Some run off from regular crops, but one can argue most from chicken farms. Do you know there is no permitting of chicken feeding businesses in Talbot, Dorchester and Caroline counties? Do you know they can sit huge piles of manure right next to drainage ditches that flow into the bay? Check out this article to see pictures of the piles of s*#t and learn more about the situation.

The Choptank River has had some of the best striped bass, trout, flounder, black drum, and perch fishing of any of the Maryland tributaries. We as citizens need to do our part and our public officials need to step up to the plate and help save the river, require regulations and permitting. This will help save the river, which in turns helps save the rest of Chesapeake Bay. Act local, think global…