Trends in Striped Bass Growth

Fishy Fridays

Weekly spotlight on fisheries science journal articles

 

Jeff Kopaska
AFS Executive Director
jkopaska@fisheries.org

In my “new” role here at AFS, the fisheries stories and issues I been introduced to have grown far beyond my Midwestern roots. A few of the folks I’ve interacted with from the DC area, and elsewhere on the East Coast, have mentioned the issue of Atlantic Striped Bass on numerous occasions. Today’s paper, from the most recent issue of TAFS, touch on this topic and gave me an opportunity to learn more about this interesting and important species.

The brief history of Striped Bass in the article provided a nice background on the topic, and outlined the challenges of a fishery determined to be overfished, rebuilt, and now overfished again (but curiously not found to be experiencing overfishing). The authors also provide good insights on the improved accuracy of their length- and weight-at-age models using ages derived only from otolith samples. The analyses provided some thoughts on density-dependent growth, and impacts of climate change on this species.  In the end, I think this research provides good background for future efforts looking at other factors impacting Striped Bass, such as recruitment, habitat, and prey availability at various stages of development. Enjoy!

Trends in Atlantic Striped Bass growth in the mid-Atlantic, USA