Catherine Rusoff
After a series of seizures of poachers fishing for bass out of season in New York, the state Department of Environmental Conservation changed fishing regulations for the species.
Environmental Conservation police officers and investigators are part of the agency’s Law Enforcement Division. Sea bass are considered an “ecologically, recreationally and economically important species,” according to the department website.
Between April 6 and April 10, several officers from the department witnessed people on Long Island catching and storing the fish according to a press release, even though the sea bass season didn’t start until April 15th. In one discovery, a K-9 officer helped police find more than a dozen fish buried in the sand and hidden behind logs and brush piles. In another bust, three men were found hiding sea bass inside traffic cones on the Bayville Bridge on Long Island.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Seventeen people were fined for consuming sea bass out of season. Six people were also fined for not carrying maritime licenses.
Under new regulations established after the April seizures, fish caught in the Hudson River and its tributaries north of the George Washington Bridge can only be kept if they are between 23 and 28 inches long. Anyone who intends to fish for bass must be registered in the Recreational Marine Fishing Registry, and it is possible to fish only one of these fish per day. In these waters, sea bass can only be fished between April 1st and November 30th.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
O regulations affecting Long Island they haven’t changed. Sea bass found in marine waters can only be kept if they are between 28 and 31 inches long. Anyone who wants to fish must re-register and can only fish for one sea bass per day. Fish can only be caught between April 15th and December 15th.
The size limits are in place to protect female fish and ensure the species can maintain a population, the department states online.
The state also maintains monitoring programs for the species. One program focuses on catching fish, recording information about them, and tagging them before returning them to the river. Another asks anglers who fish for bass to share their fishing habits so researchers can analyze the data.
O striped bass—also known as rockfish—is the official state fish of Maryland.
