Striped Bass Conservation Bill Would Ban Commercial Bass Fishing

Posted in: Falmouth News, Front Page Stories
By ELISE R. HUGUS
Feb 17, 2009 - 12:37:44 PM

FALMOUTH- A bill sponsored by State Representative Matthew C. Patrick (D-Falmouth) to ban the commercial harvest and sale of striped bass and place limits on the daily catch and keeper size for recreational fishermen is not getting many bites from local anglers.

The Striped Bass Conservation Bill would place striped bass in the game fish category, making it illegal to sell, and would limit recreational fishermen to one fish between 20 and 26 inches or over 40 inches per day.

Mr. Patrick said he was motivated to write the bill because of his own experience fishing for striped bass near his home in Waquoit. After catching his first striped bass in 1989, Mr. Patrick said he has seen the numbers and size of the popular fish drop.

“I want to conserve the striped bass. I’m afraid it’s going to go the way of a lot of fisheries out there, which is down the tubes,” said Mr. Patrick, who added that his personal observations were confirmed by research studies.

Conservation efforts in the early 1980s have helped the striped bass rebound, and sport fishing for that species is a $1 billion industry, according to the Division of Marine Fisheries.

The current minimum size for a keeper fish is 28 inches and recreational anglers are allowed to keep two per day.

Commercial fisherman may catch up to 30 striped bass over 34 inches per day after the season opens in mid-July. The season typically lasts four to six weeks, depending on how long it takes to reach the quota of 1.1 million pounds of fish.

The breeding size for striped bass is between 26 and 40 inches, according to the Division of Marine Fisheries.

“The number of spawning fish has declined over the past three years. While the total fishery maybe has gone up, the spawning females are almost at the point of being critical,” Mr. Patrick said.

If passed, Massachusetts would join Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and New Jersey as the other East Coast states that do not allow commercial striped bass fishing.

Rhode Island allows commercial striped bass fishing on a limited basis from January to June and the fish must be over 34 inches if caught on a line.

Seasoned fisherman and charter boat captain William Nathaniel Chalkley of Woods Hole said that, if passed, the bill would kill his business.

Mr. Chalkley said he makes up to $20,000 per season from catching and selling striped bass. That amounts to half of his income.

“For rod and reel guys, that’s a real money market,” said Mr. Chalkley, who supplements his fishing income by chartering his boat, the Annie P., for sport fishing in the summer, and working as a builder in the winter.

He said that he and other people who fish commercially for striped bass work as tradesmen during the rest of the year, “but right now that industry is really hurting.”

Instead of making striped bass a game species, Mr. Chalkley said, he would support increasing the minimum size for recreational anglers and reducing the amount of fish that commercial fishermen can take.

He also suggested keeping the season open for a longer period of time, but reducing the days that fish may be taken for sale to once a week, rather than Tuesday through Thursday. That way, he said, there would be less pressure on one size class during a particular time in the season.

Mr. Chalkley grew up on the shores of the James River in Virginia, and caught his first fish “as soon as I was big enough to hold a pole,” he said.

As he got older, Mr. Chalkley migrated to the Chesapeake Bay, a major breeding ground for striped bass. He said that the state’s fisheries are regulated, just as hunting is, and so he supports the saltwater angler registry that will be in place in Massachusetts in January 2010.

“It will give the scientists a much better idea of how many fish are being caught,” said Mr. Chalkley.

The problem, he said, is with recreational anglers, who catch up to 60 percent of the region’s striped bass.

“We have more invested in making sure those stocks survive,” said Mr. Chalkley, who also suggested that the state restrict commercial fishing licenses to those who do not sell a certain amount of fish.

“They should cut out guys who don’t need this as a primary source of income. They’re just selling a few fish to make up for gas money,” he said.

Mr. Chalkley frequents the waters around Woods Hole with his friend David (Ski) Kosewski, facilities manager at the Marine Fisheries Center.

Mr. Kosewski said he went out commercial fishing a total of nine times during the 2008 season. On one two-day period, he said he caught 25 fish per day, each averaging 35 pounds.

He sells his stripers at the Falmouth or Cataumet fish markets for $2.50 to $4.50 per pound.

“It’s never been as good as it is now. There were days where I almost burned my arm off,” said Mr. Kosewski, who has been fishing since the late 1970s.

“Some people [think there is a decline] because they don’t know what they’re doing, or what the right methods are.”

The roughly $5,000 Mr. Kosewski makes as a commercial fisherman pays for his recreational fishing hobby, but he said it would be unfair for the striped bass trade to be banned completely.

“I don’t understand why there’s a handful of people who want to restrict everything we do,” said Mr. Kosewski. “We don’t kill as many fish as recreational fishermen do. They outnumber us six to one.”

Peter Goldsborough of Bar Neck Road, Woods Hole, is a recreational angler who fishes from shore almost every night from May to November.

But he only keeps a few striped bass per season, catching and releasing about three fish per outing.

“I do it for the love of it. I guess there should be limitations on these things, but I’ve never been one to follow them,” said Mr. Goldsborough.

Some groups that support game fish status for striped bass say that the move could bring 2,800 jobs and more sport fishing tourism to the region.

Brad Burns, president of the Maine-based group Stripers Forever, said that Cape Cod is known worldwide for its striped bass fishing, and that jobs in bait and tackle shops, charter boating, hotels, and the like would benefit the economy.

In a study commissioned by Stripers Forever, economist Robert Southwick concluded that the impact of banning commercial fishing would be compensated for by an increase in recreational striped bass fishing.

The group’s website has an explanation: “commercial bass fishing actually costs jobs and reduces economic activity because fewer fish lead to fewer jobs in the recreational sector. The current management system has failed to produce a healthy, well-balanced striped bass population largely because commercial fishing interests have a disproportional influence on fishery managers.”

Stripers Forever policy coordinator Craig Caldwell, has been “working directly with Mr. Patrick and other legislators,” said Mr. Burns.

Mr. Patrick said he would be willing to listen to alternative solutions from commercial fishermen, and also supports a bill sponsored by Peter V. Kocot (D-Northampton) to curtail the herring industry. Herring and menhaden are the primary source of food for striped bass.

“I have regrets about ending a commercial fishery, even a small fishery. I think we need to evaluate it, not just from a Marine Fisheries point of view but from a citizen’s point of view,” said Mr. Patrick. “I want people to think of this striped bass bill as a work in progress. There may be something we can work out.”