ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — While recent ice and cold temperatures have created problems around the region, those snow clouds may also come with a silver lining. Extended winter weather could ensure a quality Atlantic striped bass spawn.
Atlantic striped bass provide a billion dollar commercial and sportfishery from North Carolina to Maine. While those fish migrate through the year, 70% to 90% of them are spawned in the Virginia and Maryland portions of the Chesapeake Bay.
The past five Atlantic striped bass spawns have been dismal. The past five winters have been warmer than average. Fisheries experts say there is a connection between the poor spawns and warm winters.
It is a matter of zooplankton hatches syncing up with striped bass hatches. Newly-hatched striped bass, known as fry, feed primarily on tiny zooplankton. However, when winters are warmer, zooplankton hatches come earlier, well before striped bass hatches. Consequently, those zooplankton are gone by the time striped bass have spawned and hatched.
“There is a lot of concern, right now about water temps,” said Chesapeake Bay Foundation Virginia Director Chris Moore. ” There’s thinking that the timing between when the fish actually release their eggs and and spawn and their food sources is somewhat of a mismatch, and therefore not a lot of those small fish are surviving.”
An average or colder than average winter would keep Chesapeake Bay tributary temperatures lower longer, ensuring that zooplankton and striped bass hatches happen at roughly the same time.
So, what’s the outlook?
“The rest of our January, we’re going to have cold temperatures for this time of year,” said WFXR Good Day Virginia Meteorologist Kara Thompson. “But some long range products show we may be returning to warmer than average conditions as we get deeper into the winter season.”
Striped bass experts say if the winter cold extends into February, it may be enough to ensure water temperatures stay in the correct range to optimize the hatches and the Atlantic striped bass spawn.
Strict harvest regulations have been put into place as numbers drop, and without a reversal in spawning success, more harvest measures may have to be taken.