Fishery bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service - NOAA

62 FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
left by 1938 when the fishery started taking the fish for the first time as 2 year-olds,
while 333 were left by 1938 when the fishery started to operate on 3-year-olds. In
other words, on the basis of these calculations about \% times as many female striped
bass would be given a chance to spawn if the fishery were to allow the 2-year-olds to
remam in the water and first started to catch them as 3-year-olds. It has previously
been pointed out that although a conservation measure designed to increase the stock
by adding to the number of spawners in the south has no evidence to prove that it is
not a fallacious policy, an increase in the number of mature fish in northern waters
should repopulate this area to a certain extent and revive the fishery in this region
There are, of course, many spawning areas in northern waters that have been ruined
by pollution and dams so that they could not be repopulated, but it is widely believed
that depletion in northern waters is in part due to insufficient numbers of spawners.
Thus Bigelow and Welsh (1925) say:
Since striped bass have dwindled as nearly to the vanishing point in the St. John (which still
sees a bountiful yearly run of salmon) as in the estuaries of rivers that have been dammed and fouled
by manufacturing wastes, the chief blame for its present scarcity can not be laid to obstruction of
the rivers; and as this is a very vulnerable fish, easily caught, always close inshore, always in shallow
water, and with no offshore reservoir to draw on when the local stock of any particular locality is
depleted by such wholesale methods of destruction as the early settlers employed—overfishing must
be held responsible.
Probably one of the reasons why the depletion in northern waters has been so great
is that bass which remain north in the winter become dormant and inactive (see p.
42), and hence far more easily available for capture, so that it is not impossible to
wipe out an entire population. Under these circumstances there is good reason to
believe that an added number of mature fish in northern waters would assist materially
in renewing the supply in these areas, and that this supply could be maintained
by affording the population adequate protection.
It should be mentioned at this point that the abundance of striped bass in California,
where the present fishery arose as a result of two small original plantings
(see p. 5), has been successfully maintained by protecting this species up to the time
they become 4 years old, at which time they are about 20 inches in length. Thus
Craig (1930) and Clark (1932 and 1933) have studied the fluctuations in abundance
of the striped bass in California, and both of these authors came to the conclusion
that "the striped bass population could support a commercial fishery as well as a
sport fishery"—a conclusion to which, however, the California State legislature
apparently paid scant attention, since commercial netting was prohibited by law after
August 14, 1931.
In consideration of all the foregoing evidence, even though it is based on assumptions
'that need further corroboration by continued investigation of this species, it
seems highly advisable to try the experiment of allowing striped bass to become 3
years old before they are caught in large quantities along the Atlantic coast. Both
sportsmen and commercial fishermen should benefit by this apparently more efficient
utilization of the available stock, the former by having an increased number of large
bass to fish for, and the latter by making a definitely higher profit than they do under
the present conditions. An addition to the spawning stock in northern waters,
where the supply has been depleted to such an extent that an added number of mature
individuals is badly needed, should also result from protecting this species up to the
time it becomes 3 years old.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The preceding section has dealt with a theoretical discussion of the striped bass
population of the Atlantic coast. The causes for its decline in numbers over longterm
periods, its fluctuations, and the effects of different fishing intensities and natural
mortality on the stock under the existing conditions have been considered. Also, an
attempt has been made, on the basis of the limited information at hand, to determine
how the available supply of striped bass can be utilized most efficiently from every
point of view. The data tend to show that the way in which the fishery for striped
bass along the Atlantic coast can make the best possible use of the available supply
is to start taking the fish as 3-year-olds, when they average 41 cm. (16 inches) to the
fork of the tail and weigh roughly from 1% to 2 pounds each. There is apparently