dELAWARE RIVER YOY

[BUCKTAIL WILLIE]

The Delaware River Striped Bass Young of the Year Index, provided by the Division of Fish and Wildlife, isn't very encouraging. At 1.92, the 2008 index is below the 2.72 of 2007, and ranks 17th in the 29-year time series while- falling short of the 2.54 mean.

This seems to me to be another example of too many large breeders being removed from population.
By the time ASMFC figures out the striped bass population is slipping away from us it will be too late
Stripers Forever survey for 2nd year in a row has almost 70% of those survey indicating the population is dropping in numbers and size

We have met the enemy and he is US:mad:

[Timmy T]

clearly a wise decision to let people keep spawning fish in the river also :rolleyes:, unreal

[masterchief]

where do you get this index and how is it but together

[Burt308]

As with hunting, the usual culprit for population declines is LOSS OF HABITAT and POLUTION. Don't forget the oil spill in Paulsboro. It was the largest US oil spill since the Exxon Valdez in Alaska. The spring following the spill was the worst year for fishing I can remember. I think I caught three stripers that year. It has been getting better, but I think the spawining grounds will be contaminated for many more years. The deleware river took twenty years to clean up, and now we are right back where we started.

Also, surveys and forcasts are not set in stone. There may be less spawning in the deleware river, but the population seems strong to me. Keeping spawning fish is stupid though.:mad:

[TheBayStalker]

Willie,
Thank you for posting this up! I can't help but to think that every single time I get on this site there are more people keeping the limit whether fishing in the Delaware River or anywhere in the Northeast. It seems we will learn the hard way like the 3rd world countries have.

I can understand that charter guys and running a business but more guys need to take a harder stance on conservation. Even 3rd world countries charters have started practicing catch and release because they realize it will only hurt them in the long run.

Not to mention the more recent commercial guys who were illegally taking and targeting this species only to get slapped with a $500 fine!

I commend you for your efforts in conservation and wish there were more people like you.

End rant! :D