Striped Bass 



The history of striped bass, Morone saxatilis (Wal- 

 baum), landings in New Jersey (Fig. 40) has been similar 

 to landings in all the coastal states, where the trend has 

 been irregularly upward since the early 1930s. Landings 

 in New Jersey have been less than in New York and the 

 fluctuations have been much greater. Whereas the com- 

 mercial catch in New York has been primarily in haul 

 seines, the New Jersey commercial fishery since 1960 

 has been almost exclusively an otter trawl fishery in 

 coastal waters in winter. I am informed that the very 

 wide fluctuations in New Jersey landings of striped bass 

 may reflect success of law enforcement rather than abun- 

 dance of fish, especially after the winter trawl fishery for 

 this species became important. This fishery began when 

 it was discovered that along the New Jersey coast striped 

 bass often spend the winter in relatively shallow waters 

 off the coast rather than in bays and estuaries. It is illegal 

 in New Jersey to trawl within 2 miles of the coast, but 

 facilities for enforcement of marine fishery laws in that 

 State are inadequate, as they are in most Atlantic coastal 

 states. Activity of enforcement agents may depend on 

 how the authorities react to public pressures, especially 

 from sport fishermen. 



According to national saltwater sport fishing surveys, 

 the recreational catch of striped bass is relatively large 

 (Table 45). In the 3 yr for which estimates are available, 

 in the north Atlantic and middle Atlantic regions com- 

 bined, the total sport catch was more than six times the 

 total commercial catch. Sport catch estimates also sup- 

 port the hypothesis that abundance of striped bass has 

 increased over this period, for the sport catch has grown 

 about twice as much as the number of sport fishermen. 

 These figures, if they are reasonably accurate, con- 

 tradict many of the assertions used in the chronic con- 

 flict between recreational and commercial striped bass 

 fishermen, and do not support the argument that com- 

 mercial fishing for this species should be curtailed or 

 prohibited. In other words, regulations, if they are to be 

 successful, must be applied to all segments of the fishery. 

 There is no scientific rationale for termination of com- 

 mercial fishing (Retzsch 1975). 



Striped bass is not recorded in foreign catches, al- 

 though it is remotely possible that small incidental 

 catches could be made by trawls beyond 12 miles. This 

 migratory coastal species, like weakfish and some others, 

 is not threatened by foreign fishing and should be 

 amenable to management by the coastal nation-state. In 

 view of its vulnerability, as an anadromous species, to 

 damage from domestic overfishing and other human 

 agencies, and the patent failure generally of domestic ef- 

 forts to manage coastal fisheries, it is remarkable that 

 the striped bass resource has survived and flourished. It 

 has been suggested (Mansueti 1961; McHugh 1972a) that 

 this species has been able to take advantage of enrich- 

 ment of its estuarine nursery grounds by man. If so, the 

 effect must be reversible at some higher level of enrich- 

 ment. On the other hand, if increased nutrient loads in 

 the estuaries have been favorable for striped bass 



Figure 40.— Annual commercial landings of striped bass in New Jer- 

 sey 1887-1975. 



Table 45 . --Estimated commercial and recreational catches of 

 striped bass in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the 

 United States coast 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons. 



The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960. 1965. and 1970 

 did not give data by individual states. New York was included 

 with the New England states and New Jersey with the other middle 

 Atlantic states. 



Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings 

 in N.H.. Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years. 



production, then pollution abatement may lead to a 

 reduction in abundance. 



A recent report from Maryland (Boone 1976) states 

 that the last dominant year class of striped bass was 

 produced in 1970 and that small fish are becoming 

 scarce. This may mean reduced catches in the New York 

 Bight area in the near future. 



Conch 



Two species of conch, Busycon carica (Gmelin), 

 knobbed whelk, and B. canaliculatum (Linnaeus), chan- 

 neled whelk, are used in the New York Bight area as bait 

 for sport fishing and are canned in limited quantities for 

 human food. The pattern of landings in New Jersey dif- 

 fers from that in New York, where the peak came in the 

 1940s, probably as a result of protein shortages during 



43 



