recreational fishing is big business in New Jersey and few fish are as popular as the striped bass but that species is in danger and federal Regulators blame overfishing they're trying to restore the stock by 2029 and one way they're trying to get there is with a new emergency action that limits the size of striped bass that recreational fishermen can keep but some say recreational fishing isn't the problem and as Ted Goldberg tells us one charter boat captain is worried the new regulations will ruin his livelihood without restoring the striped bass stock if a new regulation takes effect this catch could become Contraband I'm going to say 80 percent of the catch is probably going to be greater than 31 inches if you saw what you call today you can see none of them make that criteria Frank massaria has taken people for fishing trips for almost 30 years and he's frustrated about new size restrictions that recreational Fisheries might have to contend with for catching striped bass nice the Atlantic states marine fisheries commission has issued an emergency action that would limit Fishers to keep stripers only if they're between 28 and 31 inches down from a range of 28 to 38 inches states have until July 2nd to implement this rule if I'm someone who's coming and spending a pretty good dollar to go fishing on a private charter boat expecting the captain to be professional and put them on fish and give them a great day on the water they have great memories but the one thing that they like and everybody likes is to take the doc shot that you saw us take with the prize the fish and then take home a nice clean piece of filet for dinner fresh fish the Atlantic states marine fisheries commission is made up of the 15 states on the Atlantic coast and New Jersey was the only state to vote against this emergency action Tony Kearns works for the commission and says recreational fishermen tallied a record high harvest in 2022 which forced their hand the striped bass stock is currently overfreshed and the board is working on rebuilding the stock and the TC looked at this 2022 Harvest to see how it would impact rebuilding and found that we would have a significantly lower chance of rebuilding the stock if Harvest continued at that high level of 2022 the Restriction will not apply to commercial Fishers since their fishing levels didn't go up drastically we know that uncertainty with regulations is not ideal for businesses in the short term if we don't rebuild this stock it'll have a much more significant negative impact on those businesses in the long term it doesn't make sense well why not a reduction in commercial fishing which I personally understand is not going to take place commercial fishermen work hard I respect what they do they're entitled to fish but if we're trying to protect fish then we all have to protect fish massaria doesn't think this size restriction will save many stripers since many of them that get measured caught and released during the summer don't survive their stressful release into the ocean we fish in deep water the water's cold the fish are being brought up from 60 feet maybe from 55 degree water up to 70 degree water then released into that water the fish are in shock and there's I think that the dead loss is greater than than during the Spring and fall when the water is cooler more oxygenated this is a 180 day emergency action it's supposed to be an emergency it's not an emergency Tom fodey serves on the commission and he says the stripers declining numbers aren't because of overfishing it's not the spawning stock but there's a problem it's what we're doing to the ocean and the bays and estuaries I mean global warming has affected many stocks if New Jersey doesn't implement this rule by July 2nd they could be found in non-compliance which jeopardizes striper season for all of New Jersey and could force the Biden Administration to step in and make a rule in for or against the state in Keyport I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight News [Music] foreign