Protecting the bass

Striped bass fishing regulations

http://www.onthewater.com/2015-striped-bass-regulations-by-state/
http://www.thesnaponline.com/news/state-striped-bass-season-for-roanoke-river-opens-march/article_e73752de-db33-11e5-86af-f7d3d4e83c3d.html

Striped Bass Legislation

Striped Bass populations declined in the 1970’s and 1980’s with the commercial catch dropping from 14.7 million pounds in 1973 to 1.7 million pounds in 1983. This decline resulted from both overfishing and habitat decline. A Chesapeake Bay moratorium on fishing for striped bass was imposed by Maryland and Delaware for 5 years (1985-1989).

http://www.fws.gov/northeast/marylandfisheries/projects/Striped%20Bass.html

“In 1979, Congress amended the Anadromous Fish Act to create the Emergency Striped Bass Study Program. In 1981, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) adopted a coast-wide management plan, to be acted upon by each coastal state.”

http://www.stripers247.com/Massachusetts-Striper-Profile.phpA

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission was established in the 1940’s (approved by Congress in 1942) to manage and protect shared migratory fish species such as the Striped Bass. Representatives from each state undergo “deliberations in the Commission’s main policy arenas: interstate fisheries management, fisheries science, habitat conservation, and law enforcement.” Their mission is to “To promote the better utilization of the fisheries, marine, shell and anadromous, of the Atlantic seaboard by the development of a joint program for the promotion and protection of such fisheries, and by the prevention of physical waste of the fisheries from any cause.” The Commission works closely with federal agencies including the National Marine Fisheries that is part of NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as well as state officials and Congress.

Two major acts that resulted from state and federal cooperation are the Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation act of 1984 and 1993. “As a result of the Acts, all Atlantic coast states that are included in a Commission fishery management plan must implement required conservation provisions of the plan or the Secretary of Commerce (and the Interior in the case of striped bass) may impose a moratorium for fishing in the noncompliant state’s waters. The recovery of Atlantic striped bass, black sea bass, bluefish scup, summer flounder, Spanish mackerel, and spiny dogfish stocks are all a result of these requirements and resultant tough management actions of the states and federal government.”

http://www.asmfc.org/about-us/program-overview

The Commission is funded by a variety of state and federal sources; the latter comes mainly from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) through Public Law 99-659 passed in 1986.

The list of resources found below are only a few of the many plans and amendments by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries, some of which became legislation. More information can be found in the Fisheries Management Reports of the ASMF.

http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/sbAmendment5.pdf

Fisheries Management organizations

http://www.chesbay.us/Presentations/January%202016/1.%20Chesapeake%20Bay%20Fisheries%20101_final_6jan16.pdf

Digest of Federal Resource Laws

https://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/Resourcelaws.html

Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act

https://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/ATLSTRI.HTML

1984 Atlantic Striped Bass Conversation Act; Public Law 98-613 “P.L. 98-613, approved October 31, 1984, (98 Stat. 3187, 16 U.S.C. 5151-5158) recognized the commercial and recreational importance, as well as the interjurisdictional nature, of striped bass, and established a unique State-based, Federally backed management scheme.” https://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/ATLSTRI.HTML

Various amendments, extensions, etc.: 1986, Public Law 99-432; extended 1988, Public Law 100-589; 1991, Public Law 102-130; ,1996, Public Law 104-208 (see https://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/ATLSTRI.HTML

1997 “Public Law 105-146 (111 Stat. 2672), approved December 16, 1997, includes language which directs the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission to determine if states have adopted adequate regulatory measures to implement the management plan for striped bass, and whether state enforcement of the plan is satisfactory. The Commission is to notify the Secretary of Commerce immediately of any negative determination. The legislation provides the Secretaries of Commerce and Interior the option of imposing a moratorium on fishing for striped bass in those states which do not comply with the Act. The 1997 amendments direct that studies of striped bass populations, including stock assessments and socio-economic studies, continue, but repeals Albemarle Sound-Roanoke River Study in North Carolina. Also, the amendments authorize appropriations through the year 2000. Finally, the Act establishes new requirements for regulation of striped bass protection in the exclusive economic zone, repealing P.L. 104-208.” https://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/ATLSTRI.HTML