ASMFC wanted Maryland to have a 1 fish @ 36"+ for last year. They don't like slots scientifically, because they create greater levels of uncertainty in effectiveness of reductions, or for law enforcement reasons, because they create higher levels of violations. (Maryland DNR surveyors noted that they measured and weighed a notable amount of illegal fish during last years trophy season and NRP issued far more citations and warnings than normal). As a matter of fact, I was at last year's ASMFC winter meetings where Maryland bucked the system and requested the no-take slot option from the Striped Bass Management board and that request came only minutes after the ASMFC Law Enforcement committee recommended against the use of slots.
Last year we got the no-take slot from the Southern Charterboat capts. They thought that it was more important to maintain the 28-36" fish, particularly late in the trophy season when the bay seems to have more smaller males in it, for a reasonable chance at keeping fish (some thought it would protect more spawning fish too). Unfortunately the regulations resulted in a big uproar, especially from the charterboats, because the 25% reduction ended up seeming like 75% reduction. I know even with my 4-5 people parties, a limit was tough to come by. I think during the trophy season I kept more over 40" fish than under 36" fish. This was devastating to a large portion of the charter fleet who was getting complaints from clients, who may only take one trip or so a year, that it seemed as if keeping a fish for table fare was unreasonable (I spoke to one well-known charter capt out of Chesapeake Beach in the spring who got skunked by the no-take slot and his party wanted a refund or another free trip later because they couldnt keep a fish). Yes, being able to keep a fish is a HUGE draw to sport fishing, especially those who charter or only make a few trips a year.. (ie the masses). They dont want to pay for a trip or buy licenses, gear, etc. and not have a reasonable chance at taking a fish home, especially a fish that has such high table fare value that we have an enormous commercial harvest of the fish. I think those of us that fish all the time and enjoy catch and release fail to recognize this.
This year the same people who initiated the no-take slot at the last minute now have requested that we go back to the initial pre-approved regulations by the ASMFC. Somehow it ended up at 35" to meet the 25% vs last years 36" but you get the point.
I know some who think about conservation and protecting the fish in the 36-40" range may be upset with the change. Heck, I advocated for it for a while myself (see my post here from 2013, two years prior to last years regulations:
http://www.tidalfish.com/forums/show...=1#post2039561 ). However that is before I had met with some people who told me that they are frowned upon on a management level and I supported the 1@36"+ for last year. You have to remember that as far as conservation goes, the trophy season and big fish take is not a plank in the eye of Maryland fishermen. We only made up less than 3% of the take of the spawning stock biomass even when we had 1 @28" min. The reset of the Atlantic take made up over 95% of the harvest spawning stock fish. Therefore even if we didnt change our regulations we didnt matter much in the grand scheme of things. These fish are harvested from Maine to North Carolina along the coast and even commercial fisheries in Massachusetts only target the big fish all summer long vs or few weeks with a 1 fish creel per person. The coastal reductions will have a far greater influence here. I still think the no-take slot can be an effective tool if implemented up and down the coast to protect specific year classes if absolutely necessary. However Maryland's efforts alone with such regulations wouldn't amount to much.
I am not going to lose sleep no matter what the regs end up being as long as there is a reasonable opportunity for success and we dont lose available days to fish with a creel (opportunity to take home).
There are two big things to look at as far as fisheries management goes for striped bass
1. is the ASMFC winter meetings next week in Alexandria. I think Maryland is one of the only states asking to change their regulations. They are definitely asking to change the coastal regs to match Delaware's and asking to change our trophy season to simalar regulations pre-approved for us last year (1@35"+). What remains to be seen is if they ask the management board to change our summer fishery to the "capt's choice" option. I hope they don't because I HIGHLY doubt it will pass. The option goes before the technical committee tomorrow and I am hoping it gets shot down there. If it does, I doubt Maryland will even request the option from the management board next Thursday.
2. ASMFC is doing a stock assessment update on striped bass that is due out later this year. This should give an updated look at the health of the population. If it is good and Maryland charter boats struggle for limits again this year with a fair number of fish in the 18" range, Maryland may be in a better position to ask for relaxing our summer fishery regs to give relief to the charter industry. Let's face it, out of all the states on the Atlantic coast no other state's sport fishery is so dependent upon this one species.