Conflicts among users remains an issue — not one that 
impacts stock size so much, but one that pits otherwise allies, 
one against the other. These include the recreational versus 
the commercial fisheries for a given species, with the striped 
bass as probably the best example. There is the new versus 
traditional technology, for example: the "high roller" gill 
netters that appeared in Virginia 4 years ago pitted against the 
more traditional gill nets used; or the hydraulic escalator 
dredge, which operates seven times more efficiently in the 
removal of hard clams, than the more traditional patent tongs. 
Competition for space between the menhaden purse seine, crab 
pot, and the recreational fisherman's hook is a problem when 
each may try to occupy the same place at the same time. 
These user conflicts, however, are socioeconomic problems 
more than they are biological issues. It is not my intent today 
to carry out a scientific discourse dealing with the spawning 
habits, the feeding habits, the growth rates, or the population 
dynamics of the various species. 
I find that as I talk to the public, those interested in the 
Bay, their understanding of the resource population dynamics has 
improved dramatically in recent years, and that the informed 
public often ask very informed questions, and as a scientist 
they're sometimes difficult questions to answer. 
However, part of this deals with the status of the stocks, 
so I feel I have to make a few comments. A fishery stock is 
kind of like a money market account. If you have 10,000 dollars 
in principal, you should not spend it. You should only spend 
what you make in interest. 
A fishery stock works this way. Unfortunately, recruitment 
fluctuates from year-to-year just as the interest rate does. 
Fishermen get used to harvesting at a certain level. Then, when 
the recruitment rate drops below the harvest rate, we begin 
spending our "principal." In many cases this has happened to 
stocks in the Chesapeake Bay. Regardless of why the "interest 
rate" dropped, whether it was a change in climate, or a change 
in water quality, or overharvesting, that is, "overspending the 
principal." 
Status of the Stocks 
The striped bass seems to be a cause celebre in the 
Chesapeake Bay these days. Somehow its problems seem to be the 
epitome of the status of the Bay itself. The stock does seem 
42 
