Maryland fisheries briefing: striped bass juveniles lag despite robust adults; officials push for more science and regional coordination

Secretary Kurtz told the Environment and Transportation Committee on Oct. 27, 2025, that Maryland’s fisheries show mixed signals and require more and better science to guide management decisions. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) plans joint committees, peer‑reviewed workshops and pilot programs to refine surveys and prepare for management actions next year.

The briefing emphasized why survey design matters, tracing modern fisheries monitoring practices to the 1992 Atlantic cod collapse and the lesson that relying on harvest data alone can mask population declines. “That overreliance on that type of science really created a scenario where it appeared that there were twice as many fish in the water as there were,” Secretary Kurtz said, describing the economic and ecological impacts of that moratorium and the need for survey‑based science now.

The most immediate concern discussed was striped bass. DNR reported high adult biomass and low fishing mortality — signs of a strong population of large, trophy fish — but persistent declines in the juvenile index for recent years. Kurtz said multiple, age‑class‑specific surveys are used to avoid missing cohorts, and that some surveys (for example, a gill net survey in 2022) identified three‑year‑old fish that did not appear in the juvenile index. Kurtz said Maryland has convened a joint striped bass management committee and hosted a science workshop to develop new tools that meet the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) peer‑review standards. “We need more data,” Kurtz said, and emphasized that any new survey approaches must be peer reviewed so ASMFC can accept them for interstate management decisions.

Delegate Jacobs, who questioned the department’s findings, described reports from watermen of unusually large numbers of adult striped bass in the upper Bay and suggested that increased predation by invasive blue catfish and shifting food‑web timing could alter juvenile survival and distribution. “You can’t believe the amount of big fish in the Upper Bay right now,” Jacobs said, recounting a report he received from a Bay waterman. Kurtz acknowledged those concerns and said DNR is investigating predation, food‑availability timing and other factors.

On oysters, DNR reported generally positive indicators. Disease prevalence was lower than expected in the most recent fall survey, biomass has been above the long‑term average for seven consecutive years, and the spat set (recruitment) index remained well above the long‑term median (DNR noted it was 64% above the median). The department said it will present a stock assessment to the Oyster Advisory Commission in May to help set next year’s targets. DNR also named three additional large‑scale restoration sanctuaries — Herring Bay, Hooper Strait and the Nanticoke River Sanctuary — and described small‑scale restoration work in Magothy, Severn, Eastern Bay and parts of Herring Bay.

DNR officials reported 94,000 bushels of oyster aquaculture production in the state and contrasted that with roughly 750,000 bushels reported from public harvest last year, noting the aquaculture sector has room to grow. Officials also said oyster aquaculture is an allowed practice in sanctuaries and that substrate (shell) availability is a limiting factor for both restoration and aquaculture. Kurtz highlighted West Coast shell importation programs as one approach to increase substrate supply.

Blue crab management is coordinated with Virginia; DNR said the Bay‑wide stock assessment will be updated in 2026–2027 and that new assessments will more explicitly model predation (for example, by blue catfish). On commercial and recreational freshwater fisheries, the department described trout and the stock trout program as an important economic driver. DNR reported roughly $400 million in statewide economic activity from trout anglers and about $27 million tied specifically to the stock trout program and thanked the committee for moving non‑title fishing fees that support that work.

DNR described growing work on invasive species, particularly blue catfish and flathead catfish. A catfish pilot program launched recently with nine watermen; applications for additional pilot participants are open “until the twentieth” (date in transcript not specified). The department also plans advisory committees focused on invasive catfish management and commercial opportunities.

Looking ahead, Kurtz described DNR’s development of a climate‑adapted fisheries process to respond faster to new species and changing distributions (for example, cobia, red drum, grouper, bluefin tuna and a developing shrimp fishery). He said statutory changes slowed an initial pilot and that regulatory pathways under proposals such as the governor’s Bay Legacy Act could permit quicker adaptation.

No committee vote or formal action was taken at the briefing; DNR framed the items as updates and next steps. DNR said key follow‑ups will include the Oyster Advisory Commission stock assessment in May, continued work on striped bass survey design and peer review, the catfish pilot rollout, and updates to Chesapeake‑wide stock assessments for blue crab in 2026–2027.

Questions and discussion at the hearing focused on juvenile striped bass survival, blue catfish predation, the effectiveness of sanctuary sites, shell availability for restoration and the pace of permitting or statutory change needed to launch new pilots or licensing for emerging fisheries.