Analyzing the young-of-the-year survey

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has been conducting a young-of the-year survey for striped bass since 1954. Their biologists sample certain locations by using a fine-mesh haul seine and counting the number of young-of-the-year striped bass caught on each haul. At the end of the summer, they finalize the number and come up with an average per haul. The average for 2020 was 2.5. The average since the program began is 11.5. 

So why should we in Delaware care about the young-of-the-year striped bass count in Maryland? Because that figure is the basis for the management of striped bass along the Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to Maine.

The Chesapeake Bay provides the majority of the striped bass found along the Atlantic Coast. Other stocks from the Delaware Bay, the Hudson River and the Albemarle Sound add to this number, but the Chesapeake Bay remains the primary contributor.

Beginning in 1970, the stock of striped bass started a steep decline that ended in a moratorium for all states from Maine to North Carolina. Gov. Harry Hughes of Maryland was the first to place the moratorium on his state, and that was quickly followed by Delaware. Other states came along, with Virginia the last to come aboard.

The fishery reopened under Gov. William Donald Schaffer, who added Hambrooks Bar to the list of sites sampled by Maryland DNR and, as if by a miracle, that site had enough young-of-the-year striped bass to put his supporters in the commercial fishery back to work.

From 1971 until 1988, every YOY was well below the average. In 1989, it was above average, and then we had dominate year classes in 1993, 1996, 1999 and 2011. Since 2001, we have had four YOY classes just above average and nine that were below average.

I have personally been involved in striped bass management since the early 1970s, and in 1976, I was appointed to the State-Federal Striped Bass Management Board as Delaware’s recreational representative. There were three people from each state, with one state official, one recreational and one commercial representative.

Unfortunately, as hard as we worked to come up with regulations to cut back on striped bass mortality, it made no difference because the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission had no power to enforce any regulations.

Then U.S. Sen. Chaffee wrote and passed a bill that allowed the ASMFC to close a fishery if the state did not adhere to the regulations passed by that agency. That finally got us moving in the right direction. That very same law was used this year to close the menhaden fishery in Virginia and force Omega Protein to abide by the quota set by the ASMFC.

At this moment, both Delaware and Maryland have very strict regulations on striped bass. Both states have one-fish bag limits and Delaware has a 28- to 35-inch slot limit. In Maryland, you can keep one fish over 19 inches in the Chesapeake Bay during certain seasons, but the ocean fishery has a slot limit of 28 to 35 inches with the one-fish bag limit.

As this process moves along, there will be certain groups who will push for even stronger regulations, including a moratorium, a ban on commercial fishing and other draconian regulations. I do not believe any of those are necessary right now. I have never supported making striped bass a gamefish and I do not support that now. If there are enough fish for recreational fishermen, there are enough fish for the commercial fishermen. At this point in time, striped bass are the most valuable finfish for commercial fishermen in Delaware.

New Jersey, always a leader in conservation, passed a striped bass gamefish law, then turned around and used the commercial quota to give recreational fishermen more striped bass for a fee.

My personal observation from doing at least 10 fishing reports every week covering three states is there are a good number of small striped bass in the Delaware and Chesapeake bays and along the ocean front. My guess is the fish are products of the 2015 class and will soon move into the ocean to join the coastal migration. Once in the ocean, they are protected by the 28- to 35-inch slot limit.

If we can keep this slot, I believe we can build up a large spawning stock biomass that will be ready to deliver a dominate year class when conditions in the spawning rivers are right. Exactly what those spawning conditions are remains a mystery. However, we do know that even a low number of females can produce a dominate year class, as we saw in 1993, and that large-year class can carry the fishery for many years into the future.