. . . Atlantic Anadromous Fisheries 



30 



SPECIES AND STATUS 



1980's. Additionally, the U.S. Congress 

 passed the Striped Bass Conservation Act 

 which empowered the Departments of 

 Commerce and Interior to bar striped bass 

 fishing in any state which ASMFC found 

 not in compliance with its FMP. 



In 1989, high recruitment in the Chesa- 

 peake Bay (Fig. 3-2) triggered a slight 



relaxation of regulations and allowed in- 

 creased fishing on all Atlantic striped bass 

 stocks in 1990. The fisheries remain 

 closely monitored and rigidly controlled. 

 Modeling studies indicate that stocks 

 should continue to recover if fishing annu- 

 ally removes 22% or less of the legal-sized 

 fish. 



Figure 3-1.— Estimated sizes of 

 spawning runs of Atlantic 

 salmon to Maine rivers (numbers 

 of fish) and the total catch by 

 U.S. anglers and foreign 

 commercial fishermen offish 

 from those rivers, 1967-90. The 

 foreign salmon catch is 

 estimated from data on tagged 

 and recaptured salmon. 



Figure 3-2.— Striped bass catches 

 in commercial and recreational 

 fisheries, and the recruitment 

 index (Maryland "seine index") 

 of young striped bass abundance 

 in the Chesapeake Bay, 1954-90. 

 The recruitment index is the 

 average catch per seine haul. 



o 

 o 

 o 



Recruitment Index 

 Recreational catch 



Commercial landings 



40 



30 



20 



10 



1960 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1986 1990 



