Surveys of juvenile striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay watershed found lower numbers of fish in 2024. Conducted by biologists in Maryland and Virginia, the surveys included counts of juvenile striped bass and other species in waters of the Chesapeake Bay.
Maryland
Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced the 2024 young-of-year striped bass index is 2.0, well below the long-term average of 11.0. The 2024 striped bass spawning season was the sixth consecutive year of poor reproduction.
During the annual Maryland juvenile striped bass survey, fishery managers examine 22 sites located in four major striped bass spawning areas: the Choptank, Nanticoke, and Potomac rivers, and the upper Chesapeake Bay. Biologists visit each site three times per summer, collecting fish with two sweeps of a 100-foot beach seine net.
The index represents the average number of young-of-year striped bass found in each sample. The juvenile striped bass average less than 3 inches long and are not usually encountered by anglers. Similar fish surveys conducted this summer in the Patapsco, Magothy, Rhode, West, Miles, and Tred Avon rivers found fewer striped bass, also known as rockfish.
Biologists captured more than 56,000 fish of 56 different species while conducting this year’s survey. Encouraging results were documented regarding two species lower on the food chain. Menhaden abundance was nearly equal to last year, which was the highest measured since 1990. Spot abundance was the highest measured since 1988.
Virginia
Preliminary results from the VIMS Juvenile Striped Bass Seine Survey conducted by researchers at William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences suggest a poor year class of young-of-year striped bass was produced in the Virginia tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay in 2024. The 2024-year class, representing fish hatched this spring, will reach fishable sizes in three to four years.
The VIMS survey recorded a mean value of 3.43 fish per seine haul in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay. The 2024 value is significantly lower than the historic average of 7.77 fish per seine haul and marks the second consecutive year of below-average recruitment in Virginia tributaries.
Consecutive years of poor recruitment deviate from the pattern observed in recent decades by the long-term monitoring program. Since the striped bass fishing moratorium was lifted in 1990, years with low recruitment have occurred about once every decade in Virginia waters. Although striped bass recruitment can vary considerably from year to year, consecutive years of poor recruitment raise concerns.
The VIMS survey samples 18 index sites in the Rappahannock, York and James River systems. Scientists sample each site five times from mid-June to early September, deploying a 100-foot seine net from the shore. Captured fish are counted, measured and returned alive to the river. These young striped bass usually measure between one-and-a-half and four inches. In 2024, scientists in Virginia measured 585 juvenile striped bass at index sites.
VIMS has conducted the Juvenile Striped Bass Seine Survey annually since 1967 for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
Striped Bass Management
The striped bass population in Chesapeake Bay has rebounded from historic lows in the late 1970s and early 1980s after fishing bans were enacted in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia in the mid- to late-1980s. Since then, the population increased to the point that striped bass in the Bay and elsewhere were considered recovered.
In 2019, scientists determined that the striped bass population was overfished and that mortality due to fishing was higher than what the population can withstand in the long term. The Atlantic striped bass stock remains overfished but are no longer experiencing overfishing based on the 2022 Atlantic Striped Bass stock assessment update.
The 2024 Striped Bass Stock Assessment Update was completed recently and will be discussed by the ASMFC’s Striped Bass Management Board in late October at their annual meeting in Annapolis, Maryland.
In the Chesapeake Bay region, striped bass are also known as rockfish. The species is important to both recreational and commercial fishermen.
sources: Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Virginia Institute of Marine Science
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