ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WFXR) — The future of one of the most iconic fish species in the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic striped bass, is in question. Numbers of young-of-the-year striped bass have been on the decline for more than five years. That coupled with higher than expected harvest of adult fish have led to a shrinking of the species biomass.

As a result, severe new restrictions are being proposed, with Maryland fisheries managers calling for a ban on that state’s spring trophy striped bass season in 2024. While they range the entire Atlantic coast, Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay is where 70% to 90% of Atlantic striped bass are spawned.

“There’s still plenty of fish out there to create a strong year class, we’re not back at the levels that we were in 1985 before we went to a moratorium,” said Lynn Fegley, Director of Fishing and Boating Services for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDNR). “These are the toughest decisions we make as fisheries managers. you know everybody is going to be impacted. I think from the conversations we’ve had with our public, there isn’t a person who doesn’t understand something needs to be done.”

Not having a spring trophy season in 2024 would give stripers, and especially larger fish, the ability to spawn and improve numbers.

Striped bass, or stripers or rockfish as they are sometimes called, are the bedrock of a multi-billion dollar sport and commercial fishery in the United States. The fish are also deeply ingrained in the heritage of coastal states. Virginia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and South Carolina all claim stripers as their state fish or state saltwater fish.

Fisheries managers say they have seen a similar scenario play out before. Striped bass numbers declined in the 1970s and 1980s. Very little was done about it, and the species nearly collapsed. A five year moratorium on fishing for striped bass was instituted in 1985 to allow stocks to recover, and by the mid-1990s they had been fully restored, before declining in recent years.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (AFMFC) manages and monitors coastal stocks. The commission took action and set a goal of having Atlantic striped bass numbers restored to 1990s levels by 2029.

Recent surveys in the Maryland and Virginia portions of the Chesapeake Bay have shown recruitment has been low for the past five years. That coupled with more fish being harvested has led to the current situation, and Maryland’s emergency regulation proposal, in addition to size slot limits for the entire east coast set by the AFMFC last summer.

“That would end the spring trophy fishery, the fishery that traditionally starts on May 1,” Fegley said. “We would open the fishery in mid-May.”

That two week period of no-fishing for stripers comes at the height of the spawning season. Giving those fish the chance to spawn unpressured would benefit the striper fishery along the entire east coast. Other states are also taking action to protect the fishery, but it starts with the prime spawning grounds.

“Nobody is doing this alone,” Fegley said. “If somebody catches a big striped bass off the coast of Massachusetts, that fish was likely born in the Chesapeake and has probably spent time in the Chesapeake. These fish are wide-ranging travelers and we need to work together.”