There may be meaningful reductions in striped bass harvest this year after all. States that had been considering loopholes to new rules meant to protect the beleaguered species are sticking to the intent of the rules instead, despite the objections of some commercial fishing interests.

The latest is New York. Last week, the state Department of Environmental Conservation effectively cut the recreational striper take in half, limiting anglers to one striper per day at least 28 inches long.


The old regulations said individual anglers could keep one 28-inch striper and another at least 40 inches long, every day. Meanwhile, guests on charter fishing boats were allowed two 28-inch fish per day.

That was in line with the basic principle along the East Coast of a two-fish limit with a 28-inch minimum size. Last fall, in the face of a shocking decline in the striper population, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission asked states to cut the bag limit from two fish per day to one.

New York and other states considered the idea of “conservation equivalents” that would allow the keeping of more than one fish while technically achieving the ASMFC’s goal of a 25 percent cut in the total harvest (both recreational and commercial fishing.)

Charter boat captains had asked the state for permission to continue letting their customers to keep two fish, fearing the one-fish limit would bite into their business.

State regulators are making one bass a day the coastal norm. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Virginia and North Carolina are all on board.

Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island and Maine are still deciding what to do. Only New Jersey seems to be sticking to a two-fish limit, contending that the details of its regulations will comply with the ASMFC directive.

The biggest source of support for the harvest reduction came from recreational anglers themselves, who are alarmed by the possibility of another striped bass population crash like the one in the 1980s, which led to a coast-wide moratorium on striper fishing for several years.

Both commercial and recreational catches have declined sharply over the past decade. The reasons for the decline are not clear, but advocates say reducing harvest will ease pressure on the species and hopefully help it rebound.

“We really need to do something to restore the stock,” Jim Gilmore of the New York DEC told Newsday. “One at 28 inches gives us a meaningful reduction to help get the stock rebuilding.”

New York’s Commercial fishing boats – not charters, but boats that catch fish for sale on the market – will see their minimum size increased for 24 inches to 28, Gilmore said, though they’ll also be given an extra month of fishing. Even so, the new rules will meet the 25 percent reduction goal, he said.