Are the striper stocks in trouble?

[numbnuts]

I read somewhere they didn't give the carolinas an increase in their quota's. thats a good thing!
they destroy fish there.

[acpendergast]

Unless regulations are put in place to stop excessive culling by commercial boats, we are in trouble.  There have been stories published recently speaking on this subject and showing pics of thousands of dead stripers that "weren't big enough to maximize profits".  It made me sick to my stomach seeing that.  The stock can't rebound if the young fish never reproductive maturity. 

[fatcow]

Personaly i dont think there in trouble.  Lots of fish stay offshore.  MV waters way to hot last year in the 70s.  Would u want to be in bath water all day.  The mass body of fish stayed in the cooler water.  Look at all the bigger fish that are being caught.  Most 60lb ive seen. 

[Peterjay]

Bigger fish are still being caught because the ones that are left tend to congregate in certain spots where forage is plentiful, and everybody knows where those spots are. The numbers of cow stripers being caught today are pathetic compared to 40 years ago. When you talk about 60-pound fish, try to remember those fish came out of year-classes that were spawned close to 20 years ago, when things were looking up. That story about the main body of fish staying offshore is the same crap we heard when the cod, pollock, whiting, flounder, etc. populations were crashing. The whole ecosystem along the NE coast is a mess, starting with the forage. It's a complicated situation, and there are a lot of reasons why it's happening, but make no mistake, it's happening.