| 1997 Striped Bass Cooperative Study |
Performed due to an urgent need to investigate why large numbers of Chesapeake Bay Striped Bass exhibit signs of starvation & disease
Large Striped Bass, over 18", are usually found taking up residence in specific locations throughout the Chesapeake Bay and it's tributaries during the Summer months when the water temperatures often exceed 75° F. Since these larger fish do not normally roam the Bay following forage fish during this time period, they depend on what is available in their immediate area and do not begin feeding on schools of forage fish (Menhaden) until October or November.
When the water temperature drops in the Fall, This triggers their natural instinct to feed on schools of Menhaden until the Menhaden have migrated out of the Bay during the latter part of Fall or the Early part of the Winter season. In recent years the Menhaden population has decreased throughout the Chesapeake Bay.
However, during the Summer months of 1997, large numbers of Striped Bass (probably the largest number of adult males ever observed in the Chesapeake Bay during the Summer months this century), mostly fish from the 1993 year class, that ranged in size from 18" to 22", had to compete for food that may not have been available in sufficient quantity to support the numbers of fish that had taken up residence on their traditional Summer feeding grounds.
We now have large numbers of adult male Striped Bass exhibiting varying signs of starvation, and most of the fish examined internally have had empty stomachs and have had no abdominal fat. A general observation could be made that a higher than normal percentage of these fish appear to be extremely undernourished. Observations of damage caused by several types of parasites, in the form of small openings primarily on their fins and tail, do not appear to heal. These openings become infected and in many fish the tail has numerous small red sores. These sores were present in approximately 20% of the fish caught by hook and line, during the Summer/Fall 1997 Striped Bass season in the Choptank River and Chesapeake Bay. More serious skin problems were found in 12% of the population of Striped Bass over 16" in total length. The skin abnormalities ranged in size from small round pinpoint sores to large areas of the fish covered with red sores up to ½" in diameter.
The information above was obtained in part from the 1997 Cooperative Striped Bass Survey conducted for the MD-DNR and from a Striped Bass lesion survey conducted for the MD-DNR Cooperative Oxford Laboratory, under Dr. Eric B. May's supervision, by James E. Price. |
