Things are not going well for commercial striped bass fishermen in MA these days. As of August 7, only 24% of the quota has been met. Is anyone surprised about that due to the lack of big fish (over 35 inches) around?
Right now commercial striped bass fishermen in MA can fish two days a week- Monday and Wednesday. Because of these low catch numbers, the MA Division of Marine Fisheries is proposing an in season adjustment to the fishing days which would double the days commericals can fish adding Tuesday and Thursday. This could take effect on Sept. 2. In addition, on October 2, the commercial days would be extended to 7 days a week. These same proposals came up last year and after written comments came in from fishermen, no action was taken by the Director.
I know a lot of people are very passionate about this topic on both sides of the aisle. If you would like to give your comments, pro or con, on the proposal, you can send an e-mail to Director Dan Mc Kiernan at marine.fish@mass.gov.
For more information and detail, check out On the Water's article at https://www.onthewater.com/news/2020/08/10/massachusetts-proposes-adding-commercial-striper-days .
