By james art 
Signs are growing that something is not quite right for the striped bass, one of the most revered fish in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast. In this in-depth series, we look at how a powerful combination of fishing pressure, invasive predators, changing climate and habitat conditions, and disease are affecting the population—and what can be done to help.
As migrating striped bass prepare for their annual journey south from New England to their wintering waters off the Mid-Atlantic, fishery managers are also considering big moves. Two major population health barometers were released in October. Neither paints a rosy picture.
What the latest science says about striped bass
In the Chesapeake Bay, the annual juvenile striped bass survey showed extremely poor production for the sixth year in a row in Maryland and the second year in a row in Virginia waters. The Maryland survey index showed 2.0 fish per sample compared to a long-term average of 11.0, while the Virginia index reported 3.43 fish per sample compared to a long-term average of 7.77. The results are alarming because the bay remains the most important striped bass breeding area on the Atlantic coast, producing over 70 percent of the coastal population.
In addition, an updated assessment of the coastal striped bass fishery concluded that there is less than a 5 percent chance of the population recovering by the 2029 deadline that managers are aiming to meet. The assessment found that the population remains overfished — meaning the abundance of striped bass, and specifically the abundance of mature females capable of reproduction, is below what managers consider sustainable.
“This shows that six years of poor reproduction is catching up with us, and despite recent efforts by managers, we are not on track to recover the striped bass population,” said Allison Colden, CBF Maryland executive director and fisheries expert.
Actions for managing Striped Bass on the table
In late October, members of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the multi-state body that manages striped bass and other fisheries along the East Coast, gathered in Annapolis, Maryland, to consider next steps.
Despite a clear sense of urgency on the part of the ASMFC Commissioners, they ultimately decided that they needed further information on the options they could implement in the recreational and commercial striped bass fishery to achieve further reductions in striped bass mortality. sea bass The results of these analyzes will be presented to the Commission at a special meeting scheduled for December.
It is true that striped bass numbers are not as low now as they were during the population crash in the early 1980s… But it is also true that conditions today are not the same as they were then.
Options likely to be considered include changes to slot limits for recreational and/or commercial purposes. Slot limits determine the minimum and maximum size of fish that can be caught and retained by anglers. In 2023, some of the most restrictive slot limits to date were set for striped bass in an effort to reduce catches of large adult fish spawned in 2015.
The 2018 year-class fish, the last year of above-average reproduction, are now reaching a size that could be subject to increased catch unless the allowable fish size is adjusted.
They may also consider seasonal closures. Striped bass migrate along the Atlantic coast throughout the year, making them vulnerable to cross-state fishing as they move. Seasonal closures that correspond to when striped bass are most available and/or times of the year with the highest fishing effort could help reduce striped bass removal. Seasonal closures may also consider times of the year when fish are stressed by environmental conditions, such as the summer months in the Chesapeake Bay.
Although not without costs, regulations like this could help prevent more drastic measures such as a complete ban on fishing. They’re also some of the only steps left, given that managers have already tightened size and catch limits on striped bass for the past two years.
“These are really the only levers other than the moratorium that managers have to apply,” said Chris Moore, CBF’s Virginia executive director and fisheries expert.
The Future of Striped Bass in a Changing Ecosystem
Yet immediate management action is only one part of the striped bass story. While fishing regulations are absolutely necessary in the short term, creating a sustainable population in the long term requires changing the way we think about fishing, Colden and Moore say. This means recognizing the complex interactions between fish species – including invasive predators such as blue catfish – as well as the rapidly changing environmental conditions caused by climate change and watershed development, particularly along the coast.
When the striped bass population last collapsed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, management measures, including a fishing moratorium in Maryland, helped the population recover.
“But we also had really good spawning conditions that helped turn things around,” says Moore. “I’m not sure we’ll get the same answer this time.”
It is true that striped bass numbers are not as low now as they were during the population crash of the early 1980s (there were about 110 million total striped bass in 1985, the year Maryland imposed its moratorium for fishing, compared to an estimated 177 million fish in 2023). But it is also true that conditions today are not the same as they were then.
Invasive blue catfish now dominate the range of key spawning rivers and there is evidence that they are feeding on large numbers of young fish.
Kenny Fletcher/CBF Team
For example, invasive blue catfish now dominate key river spawning reaches and there is evidence that they feed on large numbers of young striped bass. Rising water temperatures and low oxygen levels — both exacerbated by climate change — are hitting striped bass in the bay during the summer, which is also a popular fishing time. Consecutive years of extremely poor juvenile studies seem to indicate that all of this makes it difficult for striped bass to successfully reproduce and survive into adulthood.
“We have a biomass of adult spawners that, although much lower than we would like it to be, theoretically should have the potential to produce many more juveniles than are observed,” Colden says. “Things like removing fishing pressure on adult females will help – and certainly won’t hurt – but we can’t necessarily expect the population to recover like we saw in the late 1990s and early 2000s because there are other environmental factors are at play.”
Alleviating fishing pressure is still the quickest solution, but it’s a hard sell. Recreational striped bass fishing remains one of the most popular on the East Coast and in the Chesapeake Bay. A spike in the recreational harvest in 2022, when the last really good year class of striped bass became large enough for inshore anglers to legally keep, necessitated emergency management actions to limit the size and number of fish caught. Managers worry that a similar surge could occur next year, when another strong year class of fish reaches harvestable size.
Ultimately, managers are operating in a new ecological reality that they must take into account if they want to ensure the long-term well-being of both striped bass and the fishery, Colden says.
“The ecosystem is changing around us,” she says. “We need to respond to this ecological context as fisheries managers to ensure that the ecosystem can continue to provide at a level that is sufficient not only for us but also for the species.”