Rhode Island Goes with the Coast on Striped Bass

Rhode Island just issued a press release stating that the state will adopt the same striped bass regulations as their neighboring states. Rhode Island will NOT HAVE SECTOR SEPARATION.

After the meeting of the Rhode Island Marine Fisheries Council (Council) in early March, the decision was made to make special regulations the for-hire sector with a 30″- <40″ slot limit while private rec anglers would have a 32- <40″ slot limit.

We strongly opposed these measures. First because we do not agree with sector separation of striped bass. Second, because we need standardized coast-wide regulations for the fishery.

If we truly want to protect the breeders, you should not be able to cross state lines and kill a bigger fish. That was not the intent of the management measures.

Apparently the Director of the Department of the Environment for the State of Rhode Island, Janet Coit, agrees! Today, Director Colt issued a memo detailing a change in plans.

Director Coit said, ” Given that the striped bass stock is overfished and experiencing overfishing, the factor that emerges as the most important, and which my final decision rests, is risk to the resource. Minimizing such risk is essential to maximizing the efficiency of our management response. Of the three options, I find the coast-wide measure to be the most risk averse and best suited to quickly and effectively reduce fishing mortality and rebuild the striped bass stock. Other key factors I considered in making my decision included resource conservation, compliance, and enforcement, and equity.”

There is more detail in the full memo which can be found here.

We would like to personally thank Director Coit for this incredible news. We would also like to thank Acting Director McKiernan from Massachusetts for his letter requesting that Rhode Island adopt the same regulations as the rest of the coast. Finally, we would like to thank ASGA Chairman, Peter Jenkins for his recent op-ed that covered this issue in great detail.

It is a great day for striped bass management on the coast! This certainly puts some heat on the problem children in New Jersey and Maryland. Everyone is playing along rather well except for them.