Albemarle Sound Management Area (ASMA): North of a line from Roanoke Marshes Point across to Eagle Nest Bay, which includes Albemarle, Currituck, Roanoke and Croatan sounds and the joint and inland water tributaries (management responsibility- NCMFC). Roanoke River Management Area (RRMA): Roanoke River and its joint and inland water tributaries, including the Cashie, Eastmost, and Middle rivers, up to the Roanoke Rapids Dam (management responsibility- NCWRC)

The A/R stock of striped bass was overfished during the late 1970s through the mid-1990s. Juvenile production dropped to all time lows, harvest declined and age composition of the stock was truncated. In 1994, the NCMFC and the NCWRC approved a joint management plan for the A/R stock. Management measures were implemented on all fisheries and the stock began to respond. In 1997, the stock was declared recovered by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The 2001 stock assessment shows that the A/R stock is currently at a high level of biomass and abundance. Biomass and abundance have increased steadily since 1989. Recruitment is above average for 7 of the last 9 years, with the 1999 and 2001 cohorts below average, and spawner abundance is at a series (1982-1999) high. The stock is fully exploited based on the current reference values; fishing mortality on the reference ages (age 3-7) is estimated at 0.23 in 2000, slightly below the target of 0.28. Fishing mortality (age 3-7) peaked in 1988 at 1.59 then fell sharply, and annual age 3-7 fishing mortality fluctuated around the target over the last 6 years. Average landings from 1995-2000 were about 25% higher than those from the first years of the analysis period (1982-1986).

Stock Status: Central/Southern Internal Stocks- Concerned

Management Area– All coastal, joint and contiguous inland waters of North Carolina south of a line from Roanoke Marshes Point across to Eagle Nest Bay.

NCDMF has not conducted any directed biological sampling for striped bass in the other coastal rivers since the early 1980s due to loss of federal aid funds and staff. Commercial landings have been collected annually by NCDMF. The Marine Recreational Fishery Statistics Survey is ongoing in the coastal waters of these systems but existing coverage does not provide a precise estimate of harvest and there are no other directed creel. The NCWRC has conducted some spawning stock surveys in some systems since the middle 1990s.

Striped Bass FMP Process

Stock Status   Issues  Goal and Objectives 

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