Atlantic Striped Bass Draft Addendum III

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) recently approved Addendum III to Amendment 7 to the Fisheries Management Plan for Atlantic Striped Bass  and has since made it available for public comment. This management action is the latest in their series of efforts to recover the striped bass fishery, which was declared overfished back in 2019. BHA has been involved in every management action that ASMFC has undertaken related to striped bass since Amendment 7 was initiated back in 2020, and we will be continuing that work advocating for the best options included in Addendum III. We encourage you to join us in raising your voice for options that will best position the fishery to recover by the 2029 deadline. 

 

 

BHA's Addendum III - Position Summary 

• 3.1 - Method to Measure Total Length of a Striped Bass (pg. 25)
  • BHA Supports Option B - coastwide uniform length definition

• 3.2 - Commercial Tagging - Point of Tagging (pg. 26)
  • BHA Supports Option B - commercial tagging required at point of harvest

• 3.3 - Maryland Chesapeake Bay Recreational Season Baseline (pg. 28)
  • BHA Supports Option C - new Maryland Chesapeake bay recreational season baseline with a 10% uncertainty buffer

• 3.4 Reduction in Fishery Removals to Support Stock Rebuilding (pg. 33)
  • BHA Supports Option B - even 12% reductions for recreational & commercial striped bass fisheries
  • BHA Opposes sub-options O2 & CB2, which would exempt for-hire fleet from participating in recovery effort proportionally to all other segments of the fishery
  • BHA opposes all no-target closure options included in O1 and CB3