STRIPED BASS: THE TRUTH ABOUT CATCH AND RELEASE

 

Intentional catch and release—what happens when an angler heads out on the water intending to catch fish, but not intending to kill any or bring any home—is widely recognized as a conservation tool and a valid approach to recreational fishing.

Here in New York, and in many other places throughout the country, some sections of trout streams are designated as “no-kill,” places where anglers may fish, but are required to return all they catch to the water.  In Long Island’s Nassau County, anglers may fish for freshwater bass, but all bass caught must be released.  And throughout the state, with the exception of a few northern counties, anglers are allowed to catch and release freshwater bass even when the season for keeping such fish is closed. 

No one really things twice about such rules, which exist, in some form, in the great majority of states, because catch and release fishing is a generally accepted management tool among freshwater fisheries managers.

In saltwater, things are a little different, and regulations creating catch and release fisheries are far harder to find.  

The reasons for that aren’t completely clear, although the fact that the lines between recreational and commercial saltwater fishermen were very much blurred just a few decades ago probably has something to do with it; even today, supposed “recreational” fishermen often queue up at the fish buyers’ docks to sell tuna and a few other species.  And in the ocean, where the depletion of fish stocks happens more slowly and might be harder to notice than in the constrains of a small river system or freshwater pond, fish have often been viewed as the sort of unlimited resource that makes the need to consider catch and release fisheries seem less urgent to some.

Still, the State of New York provides that

“During the closed recreational season for striped bass, catch and release fishing by angling only is permitted.  Catch and release fishing is defined as a fishery where the fish are returned to the water.  During the closed season all striped bass taken shall be returned to the water immediately without unnecessary injury.”

The National Marine Fisheries Service has also adopted regulations that permit anglers to catch and release fish when all retention of the species is banned.  When NMFS released regulations prohibiting any retention of shortfin mako sharks in July 2022, it noted that

“NMFS disagrees that targeted catch-and-release recreational fishing for shortfin mako sharks should not be permitted when the default retention limit of zero is in place.  The purpose of this action is to implement ICCAT Recommendation 21-09, which prohibits retention of shortfin mako sharks.  Catch-and-release fishing is consistent with the measures in recommendation 21-09…As described in Chapter 4 of the [Environmental Assessment], studies have shown that post-release mortality among recreationally caught shortfin mako sharks is relatively low…Additionally, by allowing fishermen to catch-and-release shortfin mako sharks, data required for stock assessments would continue to be collected.  Specifically, NMFS could continue to collect recreational survey data for shortfin mako sharks, including data on effort and catch rates.  Regarding socioeconomic impacts on the recreational fishery, as described in Chapter 4 of the [Environmental Assessment], prohibiting catch-and-release fishing for shortfin mako sharks would double the estimated loss to supporting businesses and industries in recreational trip expenditures, increasing adverse impacts compared to the preferred alternative…”

So, while catch and release fisheries are far less common in saltwater than they are in inland regions, saltwater fisheries managers have nonetheless created them in at least a few places, and are not blind to the benefits that they can provide.

Thus, it’s somewhat strange, and more than a little frustrating, that some members of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board seem hell-bent on punishing anglers who catch and release striped bass, and by extension, punishing the businesses that support the catch and release fishery.  Their attitude seems to be based on a somewhat warped sense of “fairness,” and was probably best exemplified by the comments of Emerson Hasbrouck, the Governor’s Appointee from New York, who stated on December 16, 2024 that he supported a motion that might have prohibited catch and release during the closed striped bass season, which

“addresses an issue that has been concerning me, and that issue is equity versus inequity.”

He believed that it was inequitable to permit catch and release angling during the closed season even though, as he acknowledged, it doesn’t remove as many fish from the population as catch and kill, because

“if everyone needs to sacrifice, why should [catch and release] anglers have a chance to continue fishing?...We’ve been ignoring the removals by those who continue to target striped bass during closed seasons and otherwise.”

Such comments demonstrate a clear misunderstanding of not only the catch and release fishery for striped bass, but the striped bass fishery as a whole.

To begin, the recreational striped bass fishery has evolved into a fishery dominated by catch and release.  The ASMFC notes on its website that

“The recreational fishery is primarily prosecuted as catch and release, meaning that the majority of the striped bass caught are released alive either due to angler preference or regulation (e.g., undersized, or the angler already harvested the daily bag limit.)  Since 1990, roughly 90% of the total annual striped bass catch is released alive of which 9% are estimated to die as result of the fishing interaction (referred to as ‘release mortality’ or ‘discard mortality’).  In 2023, recreational anglers released alive an estimated 26.0 million fish, of which 2.3 million are assumed to have died.”

Given the proportion of striped bass that are released by anglers, it is folly to try to separate the catch and release striped bass fishery from the overall striped bass fishery, as the two are one in the same.

The true character of the fishery might have best been described by Ritchie White, who was then New Hampshire’s Governor’s Appointee, at the August 2020 Management Board meeting, when he said

“I think that if you put this to the public, I don’t believe there are two types of fisheries, catch and release and people that harvest.  I think people go out to stripe bass fish, and they enjoy striped bass fishing.  Some of them may decide that they want to harvest a fish, or that is their goal, and some of them may decide that they don’t want to harvest a fish.  But I’ve had a lot of charter boats up and down the east coast, and I’ve never been on a charter boat that you catch your limit in the first half hour and you go home.  Charter a boat for six hours, you fish for six hours.  I believe that is what the anglers want to do.  They want to go out and experience striped bass fishing, and bringing a fish home is important to some people, to some people it’s not.”

In truth, the striped bass fishery is not cleanly divided into catch and release anglers, who never take anything home, and catch and kill anglers, who always keep their catch.  Instead, it is a continuum that begins on one end with a handful of anglers who never bring a bass home, extends through the great majority of fishermen who keep some their catch over the course of a year while releasing the rest, and ends at the other end, where another small group of fishermen who would, if they could, bring a bass home every time they go out.

In my experience, most dedicated striped bass anglers will keep a fish or two—or perhaps a few more—over the course of a season, but release the vast majority of their catch, while recreational fishermen who only target striped bass when they’re abundant, and target something else the rest of the time, are more likely to keep as many bass as they legally can—and perhaps a few more, besides.

But regardless of their intent when they head out to fish, everyone who participates in the recreational striped bass fishery, if they abide by the law, participates in catch and release, either by choice or because they have to sort through a few fish before they catch one that fits in the narrow, 28- to 31-inch slot limit that defines a legally-retained striped bass.

Plus, as Mr. White so accurately noted, once an angler puts a legal bass on ice, they usually keep on fishing, releasing the remainder of their catch, particularly if they’ve paid the fare for a full day on the water.  

That was clearly illustrated last fall, when party boats sailing out of Captree State Park took advantage of a strong striped bass run.  For the better part of the last century, the party boat fishery has followed a business plan reliant on anglers who take their fish home, and is probably the sector most dedicated to catch and keep striped bass angling.  Yet even on those boats, there is a lot of catch and release going on, as demonstrated by fishing reports that say things like

“Today’s 9AM trip caught 355 (Three Hundred Fifty Five) Striped Bass KEEPING A FULL BOAT LIMIT,”

“Today’s 9AM trip caught 425 (Four Hundred Twenty Five) Striped Bass KEEPING A FULL BOAT LIMIT,”

and

“Today’s 9AM trip caught 430 (Four Hundred Thirty) Striped Bass KEEPING A FULL BOAT LIMIT!”

Another Captree boat announced that

“The last 3 days, the [boat’s] 7AM trip saw over 750 Striped Bass keeping full boat limits every day.”

Since one of the boats never takes more than 65 fishermen, and often has fewer on board, while the other carries no more than 85 anglers, and probably fewer on striped bass trips, it’s pretty clear that even on boats catering to the catch and keep fishery, there’s a lot of catch and release going on.

Thus, the need to single out catch and release anglers, and intentionally shut down the fishery to catch and release angling at any point in the year doesn’t make much sense.  It’s hardly inequitable to anyone to limit the fishery to catch and release during the period when harvest is prohibited, since just about everyone practices catch and release at some point anyway, and contributes to whatever release mortality the fishery might generate.

It’s also foolish from an economic perspective.

Fishermen aren’t going to spend money if they have nothing to fish for.  Given that the striped bass fishery is dominated by catch and release, permitting the practice when the fishery is closed to harvest still allows tackle shops, gas docks, and similar businesses to profit from anglers’ activity; a season closed to catch and release angling shuts down the shops’ profits, too.  Similarly, charter boats can continue to book catch and release trips when the season is closed to harvest, even if, particularly for boats who have long encouraged customers to catch and kill, the volume of trips might be less than they can book during the catch and keep season.

Closing the season to catch and release completely shuts the boats down.

Thus, there is little justification for closing down the catch and release fishery, even when the catch and kill season is closed.  Yes, 40 percent of all striped bass fishing mortality is attributable to catch and release, not much below the 49 percent attributable to recreational harvest.  But while a fish that is kept is immediately taken out of the population and can no longer be accessed by the public, a released fish can be caught, on average, eleven times before it is killed, generating social and related economic benefits with each capture (although we should note that a fish might also have been released on one or more occasions before it is caught ant retained). 

And we should be careful not to place too much emphasis on that seemingly high release mortality percentage, for in a fishery where 90 percent of the fish caught are returned to the water, release mortality will naturally constitute a large percentage of overall fishing mortality.  In the fisheries mentioned at the beginning of this essay—trout in no-kill waterways, Nassau county’s largemouth bass, and shortfin makos—release mortality should constitute 100 percent of overall fishing mortality (although the unfortunate reality of poaching will reduce that a bit in the real world), yet I hope no one will suggest that any of those fish would be better off with regulations emphasizing catch and kill.

Instead, those who manage the striped bass fishery need to overcome any personal biases toward catch and kill that they might have, learn how the recreational fishery—including the catch and release fishery—actually works, and develop the understanding that, as Mr. White once told the ASMFC, “there are [not] two types of fisheries, catch and release and people that harvest… people go out to stripe bass fish, and they enjoy striped bass fishing.”

With that understanding, they might finally begin to prioritize the needs of the bass, stop trying to craft artificial distinctions between recreational fishermen, and adopt management measures that will increase striped bass abundance and so benefit everyone.  

For over the course of a season, those who release and those who kill are, for the most part, the same.