Thoughts on NOAA's 2011 Striped Bass Rec Survey for Maryland...I guess this is why we have to "register" with NOAA...
One thing that stands out to me is that roughly 875,000 Striped Bass are estimated to have been caught....about 25,000 were released dead, became fillets at sea, etc...that seems to be a lot to me...Regardless C&R accounted for more than 2/3rd's (612k) of the activity according to NOAA's estimates...
That means there are a heck of a lot of us out there performing C&R...or a bunch of us are good at telling "fish" stories.....
Anyway more than 1.2 million striped bass caught by non-commercial fishers, the majority in private or rental boats...That is one heck of a lot of fish...If I guessed I would have been off by a couple hundred thousand at least...
Check out the site....
http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/recr...ies/index.html
Select the link "querry data"
The first chart is inland fish, caught in maryland, observed by a trained observer,(at the dock). The second is reported C&R by anglers, inland, maryland.
Estimate Status Year Common Name Fishing Mode Observed Harvest (A) PSE
PRELIMINARY 2011 STRIPED BASS SHORE (3,991) 103.1
PRELIMINARY 2011 STRIPED BASS PARTY BOAT (159) 82.6
PRELIMINARY 2011 STRIPED BASS CHARTER BOAT (81,972) 22.4
PRELIMINARY 2011 STRIPED BASS PRIVATE/RENTAL BOAT (243,117) 18.4
Estimate Status Year Common Name Fishing Mode Released Alive (B2) PSE
PRELIMINARY 2011 STRIPED BASS SHORE (321,087) 50.0
PRELIMINARY 2011 STRIPED BASS PARTY BOAT (145) 52.8
PRELIMINARY 2011 STRIPED BASS CHARTER BOAT (54,446) 54.5
PRELIMINARY 2011 STRIPED BASS PRIVATE/RENTAL BOAT (612,623) 20.3