Cape Cod Times Op-Ed By Dean Clark (SF Board Member)
WHEN A KEEPER IS NOT A KEEPER
Originally Printed in the Cape Cod Times – April 20, 2015
By Dean Clark
The much anticipated arrival of striped bass is only a few weeks away however this year fishing for them will be different. Because of the documented downturn in the number of large breeding females in the striper population, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has regulated a 25% reduction in the striped bass harvest. To achieve this goal recreational fishermen in MA will only be allowed to keep one fish over 28 inches instead of two and the commercial harvest is being reduced 25%.
NOAA claims that the recreational striper fishery in MA has recently been off by more than 65%. This has troubling and far-reaching economic consequences. Our recreational striped bass fishery on the Cape once drove a multi-million dollar tourist industry that folks depended on. Without stripers to catch, jobs have been and will continue to be lost and our economy suffers. We need to bring these bass back not be killing them off conscience free.
Recent changes governing the commercial striper fishery have extended the season, reduced the number of casual permit participants and helped to stabilize market prices which are all good but not enough. In MA commercial striper fishermen are still required to only harvest fish over 34 inches. This guarantees that every striper brought to market is a large breeding female: the very fish that should be protected if the striped bass population is to recover.
Killing breeding females is counter intuitive and self-defeating. If stripers were fresh water bass, commercial fishing for them would not be allowed in the first place. Even more telling is the fact that recreational anglers catching a large or smallmouth bass will release them unharmed 99% of the time not because it is the law but because it makes selfish and ethical sense.
Killing every “keeper” striper makes no sense at all on any level. Pictures of large, dead stripers grotesquely laid out on a dock or being held high with blood coming from their gills once were proof of bragging rights but no longer. Macho driven ego trips are a thing of the past and behaving with such disrespect for these valuable fish is quickly becoming a mark of shame. The real heroes are those that brag about the “keepers” they caught and then released not the “keepers” they selfishly killed.
Striped bass belong to all of us. Let’s value and treat them with the respect and importance they deserve. Sure, take a fish home for dinner once in a while but release most of the females (fish over 34 inches) and know you are doing the right thing for the economy, each other and the recovery of these valuable fish.
Towards that end, Stripers Forever, an all-volunteer conservation organization, has created the Release a Breeder Club which recognizes and is even giving out prizes to individuals that have caught and released a large breeding female striper. More information can be found on their web site stripersforever.org.
Dean Clark
Co-Chair, Stripers Forever MA
