Charter Boat Captains Say Emergency Measures To Protect Striped Bass Could Be Crippling and, in the End, Counterproductive

Anglers like the Eisner family, pictured while fishing off Montauk aboard the Double D charter boat, flock to Montauk's for-hire fleet to load up on striped bass fillets for summer barbecues. But an emergency rules change will go into effect on July 2 that will make it much harder to catch "keeper" striped bass and charter captains say that it's going to hurt both their business and the striped bass stock.

Capt. Tim O'Rourke says that a majority of his customers, like Lea Standahl, are fishing for the thrill of catching striped bass on fly rods or "light tackle" and are not concerned with taking home striped bass to eat. They see the new regulations as a good idea that will help rebuild a diminished striped bass population.

Even a relatively small striped bass like this one caught by Miller Morris aboard Someday Came Charters near the Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays would be too big to keep under new emergency rules being imposed by federal fisheries managers to protect the striped bass breeding stock. Charter captains have said the rules are unfairly restrictive on their small segment of the fishing population and should be tailored to dampen the economic impacts of the change. CAPT. BRAD RIES