I love catching striped bass. I go anywhere to catch them, inlets, rivers, and the ocean. I don't keep a lot though because I know what's going to happen if I keep too many. There's a decline in the population and we need federal laws to stop it.

In past years it's been harder and harder to find the bass. In 1996 there were about 60 million. Now there are under 10 million and the population is still declining. Spawning fish are being caught and killed so they cant reproduce. These fish were almost extinct before and they might not be able to rebound again. Lee crocket, a catch and release fisherman states “ The fishing has been harder in past years.” His last trip he caught one bass but he usually catches a lot more. He fishes off montauk NY “ striper capital” and he's seeing decreasing populations.

In the 1980s the fish were in such dire straits the federal government made a law so fishermen could not fish for them. There were under 4 million, but luckily the fish rebounded and in 2006 there were 28 mil. Once again the species is declining again and theres under 10 million.

States laws aren't enforced and obeyed, so we need better federal laws to keep the species alive. Commissioners knew the catch amount was exceeded yet they still didn't make any laws to stop it. If federal laws were put in place it would have stopped. States want to keep their power so they don't listen to federal laws but the federal laws are the only thing that would stop the species from dying out.

Even though these fish are a main food source, and they are big fish so the feed a lot of people, They won't be a main food source soon if they keep being caught and killed at the amount that are left.

What will happen if the species keeps declining? What will happen if federal laws don't get put in place? What's going to happen if the species does not rebound? What's going to happen when they go extinct?