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bigoutdoors · Joined: 09 May 2007 Posts: 144 Location: windham ct

Stripers Forever keeps eye on fishing limits
CHARLES WALSH, Correspondent

A few days ago, I spoke with an agitated local bait and tackle shop owner who was reacting to a May 11 column that called for the organizers of saltwater fishing tournaments in Long Island Sound to go catch and release.

The guy wasn't angry about the catch and release suggestion, although the tournaments are a major source of revenue for bait shop owners. What was bothering him was that while we criticized the tournaments for needlessly killing so many striped bass, bluefish and fluke just to prove which angler or boat was the top gun, we made no mention of the toll commercial fishermen take on so many of Long Island Sound's fish species.

"Look," he said, "if there is a reason why so many recreation fishermen come back skunked these days from blackfish and fluke trips, it is the number of fish the commercial boys sweep up in their nets. Nobody is saying anything about that."

Well, somebody is.

Stripers Forever, a non-profit organization with some 14,000 members largely concentrated along the Atlantic seaboard, is dedicated to making the striped bass a federally protected gamefish. The group charges that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is too liberal with the parameters it sets for allowable commercial harvests of striper and many other species it manages.

That is a charge many Connecticut fish biologists, knowledgeable recreational anglers, and even some of the state's ASMFC commissioners agree with.

Stripers Forever President Brad Burns, of
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Maine, says commercial fishing interests have pressured ASMFC to rationalize the amount market fishermen are allowed to harvest, especially the numbers of striped bass and American shad they take.

"The time is way past due for the ASMFC to take a more proactive stance regarding harvest restrictions and not wait until the realities of low stocks finally mandate a reduced fishing effort," Burns stated in an e-mailed press release last week.

Burns added that the organization "understands that fishery stock assessment science is complex, theoretical and thus suspect. But the results of ASMFC models for striped bass over the past several years have differed wildly, and the latest peer-reviewed version is currently being questioned by the very scientists who wrote it."

Anecdotal evidence, including the results of four membership surveys taken over five years by Stripers Forever, shows that striped bass stocks are far less robust than the population assessments reflected in ASMFC reports, says Burns. He urged ASMFC to follow the path of caution and reduce harvest when there is legitimate concern about the accuracy of any fish stock assessment.

The ASMFC was formed in 1942, and its member states include Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Each state is represented by three commissioners. In Connecticut they are: Eric Smith, director of the DEP's marine fisheries division; former State Senator George "Doc" Gunther of Stratford; and Lane Stewart, a fisheries biologist at UConn.

According to the commission's Web site, its focus is on responsible stewardship of marine fisheries resources; and serving as a forum for the states to collectively address fisheries issues under the premise that as a group, using a cooperative approach, they can achieve more than they could as individuals.

Stripers Forever also urged the ASMFC to do a better job of informing the public about its management process. Burns suggested the commission stream its meetings on its Web site and by posting meeting transcripts in a timely manner before they are acted on.

'SHORT CASTS' header

PORGY SEASON OPEN — The porgy (scup) season is open in Connecticut. Porgies must be 10 inches long with a limit of 25 fish per angler. New York's porgy season opens today.

RIVER ADVICE — Pat Abate, owner of River's End Bait & Tackle in Old Saybrook, fishes for stripers in the lower Connecticut River just about every morning before going to work at the store. So when he gives advice on how to catch them, it comes from long experience and recent experience,

Abate says this year there are fewer stripers in the Connecticut River than last year, and "last year was not as good as the year before."

Abate's advice for anglers pursuing stripers in the Connecticut River can apply to the Housatonic and harbors and estuaries along the Southern coast as well.

He says the reality is that this is the peak time for larger bass in the River. Anglers took some nice bass last week generally by straying from previous years' patterns. Here are Abate's tips for successful striper fishing in harder times:

-Start before daybreak.

-Don't be afraid to fish the flood tide.

-Don't follow the other boats to the same spots were not much is being caught.

-Keep trying likely spots from the breakwater to Deep River.

-If birds are sitting nearby on shore, try the adjacent waters.

-And most importantly: You can't rely on what worked last year.

— CHARLES WALSH