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Fishing for Data
The Hudson River Striped Bass Cooperative Angler Program
by Kris McShane, NEIWPCC/Hudson River Estuary Program
The recovery over the last 15 years of the once decimated striped bass (Morone saxatilis) population has led to a large recreational fishery on the Hudson River. But to sustain a thriving and healthy striped bass population in the Hudson, it is critical that the species not be overfished. To do that requires detailed, accurate information on the fish and the fishing. Who better to provide it than those reeling in the lines? In the Hudson estuary, some of the necessary data is indeed coming from recreational anglers, thanks to a program that solicits them to voluntarily record information about their fishing trips in a logbook.
Moving Target
An angler diary program is particularly important with striped bass because it’s an anadromous fish species, meaning the fish spend all or part of their adult life in salt water and return to freshwater streams and rivers to spawn. That makes it difficult for fisheries managers to manage the population.
Striped bass in the Atlantic Ocean migrate along the East Coast from North Carolina to Maine, and spawn in the major estuaries, primarily Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware and Hudson River estuaries. The long migratory route means the species must be managed on a coastwise basis. Handling this task is the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), which consists of three members from each state on the East Coast, from Maine to Florida. The members of a state’s coalition include the director of the state’s marine fisheries management agency, a state legislator, and an individual appointed by the governor.
Fisheries biologists provide ASMFC members with summaries of species-specific fisheries data from the myriad of sampling programs run by state agencies along the coast. Based on the information derived from the data, fishing regulations are proposed to prevent overfishing and maintain the stocks of fish at sustainable levels. The ASMFC can also mandate that a state agency run a specific sampling program to gather important data needed to manage a particular stock of fish.
Such a mandate is in place for striped bass in the Hudson for good reason: the river has the only estuary on the coast where fishing of striped bass is allowed when the fish are on their spawning grounds. This heavy fishing pressure could have an effect on the stock of striped bass that spawn in the Hudson and then migrate along the Atlantic coast. As a result, the ASMFC requires the Hudson River Fisheries Unit of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to conduct a Cooperative Angler Program (CAP) to gather information on the recreational striped bass fishing that occurs in the river each spring.
Written Records
The CAP, also known as the angler diary program, is a valuable tool used by fisheries biologists to evaluate fish populations. It is a cost-effective way for biologists to gather an important, and often difficult to collect, set of data used when studying the dynamics of a fish population. Information from the diaries is used to estimate harvest rates, catch rates, mortality rates, and population size. It can be used for analyzing current fishing regulations and developing future rules.
The Hudson River Striped Bass CAP for the 2007 fishing season had more than 100 volunteer fishermen who kept records of their fishing trips on the river and reported the information to the fisheries unit. The diary entries include the date of each trip, location, start and end time, target species, fishing method, type of hook used, length and weight of fish caught, total number of hours fished, and any additional remarks.
Although the focus of the CAP is striped bass, anglers are asked to record all their Hudson River fishing trips. Having all trips recorded gives biologists an estimate of how often striped bass are the target species and how often they are caught as bycatch (fish caught when the angler is targeting a different species).
While the information in the 2007 diaries is still being analyzed, the 2006 diaries have been thoroughly reviewed—and the findings are revealing. (2006 was the first year in some time that a CAP was run on the Hudson due to shortfalls in budget and staffing.) Fifty-three of the anglers contacted agreed to become volunteers and were sent diaries, but only 19 diaries were returned. However, those 19 anglers provided good information on the Hudson’s spring recreational fishery.
The 19 fishermen totaled 253 fishing trips, and logged information for 576 anglers who fished for a total of 3,405 angler hours. Of the trips, 248 targeted striped bass and five targeted river herring (blueback herring or alewives) to be used as bait for striped bass. All the trips occurred between mid-March and mid-June. Of the 248 fishing trips targeting striped bass,
177 (71.4 percent) were successful, meaning at least
one striped bass was caught. In total, anglers caught
622 bass, of which 124 were kept and 496 released.
Anglers recorded measurements of 580 individual bass. Of these, 501 (87 percent) were longer than the minimum legal size limit of 18 inches. Probably due to the one-fish-per-day regulation, many anglers practiced “catch and release” even when a legal fish was caught. Of the 501 legal stripers caught, 380 (76 percent) were released and 21 were kept. The diaries showed the majority of the striped bass fishing on the Hudson in 2006 was done from a boat and that the terminal tackle of choice was natural bait, primarily herring.
Angler diary programs are utilized by states and agencies across the country to track the populations of many different fish species in both inland and marine systems, and to gauge the fishing pressure on them. If you fish and are willing to log your fishing trips (even those where you catch nothing), contact the fisheries unit of your state’s conservation department. You may be able to help protect the fish that provide you with enjoyment and sustenance.
Kris McShane (kcmcshan@gw.dec.state.ny.us) is a NEIWPCC Environmental Analyst who works with NYSDEC’s Hudson River Fisheries Unit. His many projects include coordinating the Cooperative Angler Program.