Today, we are writing to update you about one of the most popular fisheries in Massachusetts and the entire east coast of the United States, striped bass. As you likely know, striped bass have been under a rebuilding plan since 2019, leading to increasing management over the past five years. Last month, the most recent stock assessment conducted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) was released; this report sheds light on the ability of the current coastwide management program to rebuild the stock. Unfortunately, the results of the update are not all promising and there is the prospect of additional striped bass fishery restrictions in the coming years, possibly even in 2025.  

On the positive side, the biomass of mature female fish in the population (which is used to determine stock status) has been increasing since 2018, although it is still slightly below the level needed to stop referring to the stock as “overfished.” Additionally, the restrictions implemented in 2020, 2023, and 2024 were successful in lowering fishing mortality to target levels. Based on these results, management changes are not mandated under the interstate fishery management plan. However, there is concern about whether the current management program will lead to stock rebuilding in the face of expected population trends over the next five years.  

First, fishing mortality is expected to increase in 2025–2026 as the 2018 year-class, the only above average group of recruits since 2015, grows into harvestable size in the ocean recreational fishery. While this is a short-term effect, individual years of overfishing can jeopardize the stock’s positive trajectory. After 2025–2026, there will likely be a longer-term negative effect from the past six years of very low juvenile production from the major spawning grounds in the Chesapeake Bay estuary. The lack of strong year classes recruiting into the fishery may require a lower rate of fishery removals in the years ahead.