I read an article that said that Maryland Charter boat captains are against the Maryland Striped Bass catch and release proposal.
Maryland even has a precise, area-defined Chesapeake Bay catch-and-release season that runs March 1 to April 17.
The DNR would prohibit the use of stinger hooks and require barbless hooks. It would prohibit the use of bait unless it was done with circle hooks and asks that boats limit the number of lines in the water to six.
It doesn't seem unfair to me. I think a large percentage of stripers caught this way will live, although the juvenile index for this year is down.
2009 Young-Of-Year Striped Bass Survey Shows Below Average Reproduction
The Maryland Fisheries Service announced that the 2009 striped bass (rockfish) juvenile index, the annual measure of striped bass spawning success in Chesapeake Bay, is 7.9. This is slightly below the average long-term average of 11.7, but more than twice last year’s value. During the survey, biologists identified and counted more than 35,000 fish of 49 species, including over 1,000 young-of-year striped bass.
Variable reproductive success is a normal condition of striped bass populations. Typically, several years of average reproduction are interspersed with occasional large and small year-classes. Large year-classes in successful spawning years like 2003 and 2005 bolster the population by offsetting less successful years. The largest year-class ever measured occurred in 1996.
DNR biologists have monitored the reproductive success of striped bass and other species in Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay annually since 1954. Twenty-two survey sites are located in the four major spawning systems: Choptank, Potomac, and Nanticoke rivers, and the Upper Bay. Biologists visit each site monthly from July through September, collecting fish samples with two sweeps of a 100-foot beach seine. The index is calculated as the average catch of young-of-year fish per sample. For more information, go to http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries...dex/index.html.
They can blame the low year of the young numbers on C&R all they want but this is an attack on catch and release fishing in an attempt to preserve our "trophy season" (where the charter industry is said to take in 60-70% of their yearly income). Our trophy season begins the 3 Sat in April and according to our own DNR typically 85% of the fish are females and as high as 63% of those females are prespawn (50% on average). See here for the DNR presentation. http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/fisherie...esentation.pdf Some believe by greatly restricting C&R fishing that it will be a bit of a red herring and others at the ASMFC will not come down as hard on the most financially beneficial part of our open season.
However, This is an attack on fisherman's rights. They now advocating taking away access days to our public natural resource without science that shows a clear indication that catch and release fishing is creating a conservation issue. It angers me to no end to think that our DNR will close days to fishing solely based on anecdotal concerns they have heard when there are other less harsh and scientificly proven measures that would do more for preserving the species.
The MSSA proposal was more than fair as it specifically targeted ensuring low mortality rates associated with the practice. Unfortunately the over-zealous environmentalists and special interest groups repreasented on the SportFish advisory commission recommended day closures and now our DNR is likely to act on them. Again, this is all based on anecdotal concerns and without science.
I must note that the preseason catch and release that they are reducing access to is in the main stem of the Chesapeake Bay and not on the spawning grounds. Marylands own DNR studies show that mortality due to catch and release fishing is shown to be less than 1% with artifical lures in the cold waters of the preseason.
Every recreational angler should be very upset at the precedence this could set for our fisheries regulatory bodies to reduce access and opportunity to recreational fisherman with science or studies that show that the fishery is creating a conservation issue. With sport fishing under attack around our country currently, this precedence will only further strengthen their ability to restrict sportfishing without scientific justification.
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