Come out to voice your opinion.  Recreational fishermen will be overlooked if they are not as vocal as the commercial fishermen.

October 1, 2019  at 7pm
Urban Forestry Center
45 Elwin Road
Portsmouth, N H

October 2, 2019 at 6 pm
Crowne Plaza Woburn
15 Middlesex Canal Park Drive
Woburn, MA

October 3, 2019 at 6pm
MA Maritime Academy, Admiral’s Hall
101 Academy Drive
Buzzards Bay, MA

To submit comments online:

Email: comments@asmfc.org
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Subject: Striped Bass Draft Addendum VI) 1050 North Highland Street Suite 200A-N, Arlington, VA 22201
Phone: (703) 842-0740
Fax: (703) 842-0741

DMF Contact:  Dr. Michael Armstrong  (978)282-0308, ext. 109

See the document for public comment here.  A few issues particularly relevant to recreational fishing (and PISC) are discussed below.

A statement from the document linked above:  the role of Recreational Catch & Release Fishing on Striped Bass Mortality:

Roughly 90% of annual Atlantic striped bass recreational catch is released alive, of which 9% are estimated to die as a result of being caught (referred to as “release mortality” or “dead releases”). Catch and release fishing has been perceived to have a minimal impact on the population, however a large component of annual striped bass mortality is attributed to release mortality – accounting for roughly 48% of total removals in 2017 (49% in 2018). The current recreational striped bass management program uses bag limits and size limits to limit the number of fish that are harvested. However, these measures are not designed to reduce fishing effort and subsequent release mortality. While the proposed measures herein result in lower overall removals, the majority of them also increase dead releases. In order to address dead releases, effort controls that are better designed to reduce the number of fishing trips that encounter striped bass should be considered (e.g., closed seasons).

Please attend and voice your opinion as to how to protect striped bass from overfishing.  The goal is to reduce overall catch + release mortality (both commercial and recreational) by roughly 20%.  This will be accomplished by changes to allowable keeper sizes.  One of the following options will be chosen.  Be present to voice your opinion about these choices.

Option 1:  No changes to recreational size limits or reductions in commercial catch quotas

Option 3:  No commercial fishing quota reductions and more recreational fishing limits.

Option2:  Choose among several suboptions as detailed below.

There will likely also be discussion of circle hooks and other gear restrictions.  Also note the reference to “closed seasons” in the excerpt above.

Come out to voice your opinion.  Recreational fishermen will be overlooked if they are not as vocal as the commercial fishermen.