Experts see bycatch threatening striped bass success story

"It was like this exotic, romantic thing," said Paquette, 37, of Hull.

Stripers aren't rare anymore. Coastal waters are teeming with the popular sport fish. But advocates worry that wasteful fishing practices could undermine two decades of progress.

About 1.4 million and 2.4 million pounds of striped bass were caught and discarded in the Northeast trawl fishery between May 2002 and April 2003, according to an analysis by the environmental group Oceana.

Such statistics on stripers are rare and Herb Moore of the Recreational Fishing Alliance said the waste, called bycatch, must be tracked more closely.

"Bycatch is a big concern because the stock could slide backward," Moore said.

The striper rebound has been a boon to East Coast recreational fishermen, who love stripers for their beauty, taste and feistiness.

Stripers were nearly been fished out of existence just 20 years ago. Landings had plummeted from almost 15 million pounds in the 1970s to about 1.6 million pounds in 1983. The crisis made fishermen ultra-protective of the fish, said Paquette, a fishing guide and competitive fisherman.

"The community is looking to protect these fish with a passion I don't think I've ever seen before," he said

The rebound began after regulators prohibited striper fishing in federal waters, which begin three miles offshore, and tightened state by state catch restrictions. Massachusetts fishermen, for instance, have a daily limit of one fish at least 28 inches long.

Reports of thick schools of stripped bass began circulating in recent years. Oceana's Gilbert Brogan remembers one commercial fisherman telling him he followed five-fish thick trail of stripers for three miles.

In 2002, the most recent year for which figures are available, 11.1 million pounds of stripers were caught, about 78 percent of it by recreational fishermen.

While the news has focused on the rebound, bycatch in the commercial and recreational fishery hasn't gotten much attention. The fishery isn't federally regulated and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which oversees striped bass in state waters from North Carolina to Maine, doesn't track bycatch, either.

The ASMFC wants to improve bycatch information, according to ASMFC striper coordinator Megan Gamble. She added, "Because striped bass is doing very well, there isn't a big alarm going off right now."

Oceana made its analysis using data collected by National Marine Fisheries Service observers on commercial fishing boats, who were tracking bycatch of other species.

Brogan said Oceana's analysis shows the importance of increasing observers on fishing boats, a move that would be expensive and could meet resistance from commercial fishermen.

Stripers bycatch may soon be under tougher federal scrutiny. With the resurgence, the ASMFC recently requested that regulators study a possible reopening of federal waters to striper fishing, a move that would make bycatch reports on stripers mandatory, but would also increase fishing pressure on stripers.

Bud Brown, of the Maine chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association, said the striper gains can't be taken for granted, noting recreational fishermen in Maine have no other sport fish to pursue in coastal waters.

"It's the end all, be all," he said.