From Mr Charles Witek III from NY CCA

Striped bass are arguably the biggest salt water fisheries management success in our region, but there are now some problems.  In March, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Striped Bass Technical Committee released its prediction that the numbers of adult bass–age 8 and greater–will decline at least through 2015.  That’s after recreational catch has declined 65% between 2006 and 2009.  Juvenile abundance indices in all major producer areas have been turning in more indications of low spawning success in the past few years than at any time since the stock was declared recovered in 1995 (although there are still many successful spawns).  Perhaps most worrying is an epidemic of Mycobacteriosis in the Chesapeake Bay stock, which provides most of the bass to the coastal Read More→