The rules to recreational fishing, including charter boat fishing, in Chesapeake Bay are changing as of 2024. There is a new limit of one fish that is between 19 and 24 inches. This affects anglers in other areas along the Atlantic coast. In those areas, only fish between 28 and 31 inches can be kept. This action, known as Addendum II, was designed to reduce striped bass mortality. The organization responsible for these changes is the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Some people, especialy charter boat fishers, are not happy with these changes because it sets their fishing back due to only being able to keep one fish. The size limit also adds to the dissatisfaction of some people because first they say you can only keep one, and then it cant be a big fish. These changes are hurting the people who do guided charter boat fishing, because people are not paying as much as they have, which is around 600 dollars, for one medium sized fish.

Even though these changes are hurting some people, it’s still for a good reason, so that people in the future can also fish striped bass and other fish in the bay. We have to do what we can to preserve our environment, even if it means limiting the amount or the size of the fish we catch. We will probably have to make more changes like these in the future, because people are always fishing and the mortalty rate will go down again.