Statement from Brad Burns
President of Stripers Forever
2011 Striped Bass Anglers
Survey
January 7, 2012 –Stripers Forever 9th Annual
Angler Survey.
“The results of our survey completed by more than 1000
anglers and guides from all along the East Coast were not good.” said Brad
Burns, President of Stripers Forever. “The reports on striper fishing in 2011
were even a little more negative than the responses we received in 2010. Once
again, 74% described the quality of fishing as worse or much worse, and 77% - up
from 76% in 2010 – reported catching fewer, or many fewer fish per hour of
fishing.”
“Perhaps most distressing,” says Burns, “is the reality
that guides in some areas along the coast are losing their jobs due to the poor
fishing. Striped bass are a school fish, and there have been hot spots here and
there along the coast where the quality of fishing for large fish is good during
peak periods. For the most part, though, the poor spawning years that stripers
have experienced since 2003 have taken their toll, and there are very few small
or “schoolie” stripers to be found, and this does not bode well for the
future.”
In November a deeply divided Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission bowed to
commercial interests and voted to continue unabated the recreational and
commercial harvest of striped bass.
Stripers Forever is a non-profit, internet-based
organization advocating for the conservation of wild striped bass by designating
them as game fish and managing the resource for the estimated 3 million
recreational striper fishermen and the vast industry that they support on the
Atlantic coast. In-depth studies show that the game fish approach would yield
the greatest financial and social benefit for everyone involved in the fishery.
Stripers Forever has more than
16,000 members.
The complete survey results are available on the
Stripers Forever website at this address:
http://www.stripersforever.org/Info/Stripers_BBoard/I01913948
For further information, contact Brad Burns at
stripers@whatifnet.com.
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