A summer flounder – Delaware regulations for the species are to be revised effective March 2. DNREC graphic by Duane Raver

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced today that, effective March 2, the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife will implement changes to the recreational fishing regulations for summer flounder and scup required to keep Delaware in compliance with the Fishery Management Plans of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC).

For summer flounder, the size limit will remain at 16 inches from Jan. 1 through May 31, with the size limit increasing to 17.5 inches from June 1 through Dec. 31. The daily summer flounder possession limit will remain at four throughout the year. For scup, the daily possession limit is reduced from 40 to 30.

In December 2023, the ASMFC and MAFMC jointly approved management measures requiring member states of both panels to reduce summer flounder recreational harvest by 28% and scup recreational harvest by 10% for 2024 and 2025. The measures were called for because recreational harvest was otherwise anticipated to exceed the Recreational Harvest Limit for both species in both years – with the summer flounder stocks well below the target level.

The new restrictions are intended to achieve the full reductions in 2024, and are to remain unchanged in 2025 unless new information suggests a major change in the expected impacts of those regulations on either the stocks or the fisheries.

All regions in the summer flounder and scup management units in ASMFC and MAFMC member states were required to develop regional regulations that will reduce the recreational harvest. The Delmarva Summer Flounder Region and the Southern Scup Region – to which Delaware belongs – developed the restrictive measures, which were approved for implementation after review by the ASMFC.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife conserves and manages Delaware’s fish and wildlife and their habitats, and provides fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing and boating access on nearly 68,000 acres of public land owned or managed by the Division of Fish and Wildlife. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter) or LinkedIn.

Media Contact: Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov; Nikki Lavoie, nikki.lavoie@delaware.gov

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Striped bass caught by recreational anglers in Delaware waters can no longer be handled with a gaff according to a new fishing regulation from DNREC that brings the state into compliance with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission management plan for species’ recovery from overfishing. /DNREC graphic: Duane Raver

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced that the use of a gaff to handle any striped bass caught by recreational anglers is prohibited, effective immediately, to ensure Delaware’s compliance with the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Amendment 7 to the Atlantic Striped Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP).

The FMP cited the ban on gaff use as one of a suite of required management measures intended to reduce the mortality of recreationally-caught striped bass. Recent ASMFC striped bass population assessments have shown that recreational release mortality is currently the largest source of mortality for the overfished striped bass population. The ASMFC’s gaff ban is seen as aiding the recovery of striper stocks by helping reduce recreational release mortality of fish that could go on to spawn after they were caught and released by anglers.

Delaware’s gaff prohibition regulation can be found on the DNREC regulatory orders webpage. For more information, anglers may call the DNREC Fisheries Section at 739-9914.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife conserves and manages Delaware’s fish and wildlife and their habitats, and provides fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing and boating access on nearly 68,000 acres of public land owned or managed by the Division of Fish and Wildlife. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Instagram,  Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media contacts: Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov; Nikki Lavoie, nikki.lavoie@delaware.gov

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DNREC has revised the recreational striped bass size limit for Delaware to comply with emergency conservation action taken by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. /DNREC graphic Duane Raver Jr.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced that Delaware’s recreational striped bass size limit regulation has been revised effective May 21 to ensure compliance with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) emergency action taken earlier this month. The revision changes the recreational striped bass size limit from a slot of 28 to 35 inches to a smaller 28-to-31-inch slot.

Slot limits are increasingly used in fisheries management for conservation of species on the rebound from diminished stocks. The rationale behind a slot limit is that it will protect fish too small to have spawned and reproduced – as are most striped bass smaller than 28 inches in length – while allowing larger fish of the species above the slot limit, most of them fecund females, to continue to reproduce.

The ASMFC took the emergency action in response to the unprecedented magnitude of 2022 recreational striper harvest (3,482,819 fish), which nearly doubled that of 2021 (1,858,386 fish). In weighing the 2022 recreational harvest alongside ASMFC’s new stock rebuilding projections, the estimated probability of striper spawning stock rebuilding to a 2029 target dropped from 97% under the lower 2021 recreational fishing mortality rate to less than 15% if the 2022 mortality rate were to continue each year.

The emergency 31-inch maximum size limit slot for 2023 is expected to reduce harvest of the strong 2015-year striped bass class, which will enable the opportunity for more fish from the exceptional 2015 class to spawn. There is no change through the ASMFC’s emergency action or DNREC’s regulatory revision to Delaware’s one-striped bass possession limit or to the recreational striper season, which is open year-round.

In addition, the ASMFC emergency action does not affect Delaware’s summer striped bass slot season – which allows anglers fishing Delaware River, Delaware Bay, and the tidal tributaries of the river and bay to possess one striped bass 20 to 25 inches long daily from July 1 through Aug. 31.

The new size limit can be found in the online version of the 2023 Delaware Fishing Guide. For more information about the revised regulation, anglers can call the DNREC Fisheries Section at 739-9914.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife conserves and manages Delaware’s fish and wildlife and their habitats, and provides fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing and boating access on nearly 68,000 acres of public land owned or managed by the Division of Fish and Wildlife. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Instagram,  Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media Contacts: Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov; Nikki Lavoie, nikki.lavoie@delaware.gov

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The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission will hold a public hearing Dec. 15 in Delaware relating to the Atlantic Striped Bass Interstate Fishery Management Plan /DNREC graphic: Duane Raver

Proposal Would Enable Transfer of Commercial Ocean Harvest Quota Between States

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) will hold a public hearing in hybrid format – to include a Delaware in-person venue – from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 15 to gather public input on Draft Addendum I to Amendment 7 to the Atlantic Striped Bass Interstate Fishery Management Plan, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced today.

Draft Addendum I proposes a range of options for the voluntary transfer of unused striped bass ocean commercial harvest quota between ASMFC member states to include Delaware. The draft addendum also considers quota transfer options based on striped bass stock status and the ASMFC establishing future quota transfer criteria.

The ASMFC’s hybrid hearing format will allow the public to participate in-person or remotely. The in-person meeting will be held at the Kent County Conservation District, 1679 S. DuPont Hwy., Dover 19901. More information on the hearing, including instructions for attending remotely and for commenting on Draft Addendum I, can be found on the Delaware Public Meeting Calendar.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife conserves and manages Delaware’s fish and wildlife and their habitats, and provides fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing and boating access on nearly 65,000 acres of public land. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Instagram,  Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media Contact: Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov

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Horseshoe crabs line the shore spawning along the Delaware Bay. DNREC’s DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Harbor is one of the best places to observe this wonder of nature. DNREC photo

Horseshoe Crab Management Effectively Supports Red Knot Population

While this year’s spring shorebird migration has ended in Delaware, with the shorebirds embarking for their Arctic nesting grounds fueled for their journey after consuming abundant horseshoe crab eggs, the horseshoe crabs continue to spawn along the shores of Delaware Bay. The annual spring phenomenon of nature features the ecological relationship between migrating shorebirds that feast on horseshoe crab eggs to help sustain their long-distance migration from their wintering grounds as far away as southern South America to their nesting grounds in the Arctic – a one-way trip that can span more than 9,000 miles for some shorebird species.

Shorebirds more than double their body weight during their brief stopover each spring along Delaware Bay, feasting on the abundant supply of horseshoe crab eggs from an increasing horseshoe crab population managed under the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Adaptive Resource Management (ARM) framework. The ARM framework is an ecosystem-based approach that uses the best-available science to manage the Delaware Bay horseshoe crab population to ensure enough eggs to support the migratory red knot population during their annual spring stopover. Under ARM management, the Delaware Bay horseshoe crab population has steadily increased over the last decade to an estimated 31.3 million crabs, comprising 21.9 million males and 9.4 million females. More information on the ASMFC ARM can be found at asmfc.org.

Delaware allows a limited harvest of 162,136 only male horseshoe crabs – representing less than 1% of the scientifically-estimated total Delaware Bay horseshoe crab population, with the harvested crabs used as bait for Delaware’s commercial conch fishery. Horseshoe crab harvest in the state is not allowed until June 8 after migrating shorebirds have left to avoid disturbing the birds during their stopover. Delaware does not have a horseshoe crab biomedical collection fishery that exists in other states, including New Jersey.

The red knot is listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act and as an endangered species by the State of Delaware. The estimated red knot population that stops and feeds each spring along Delaware Bay has remained steady over the previous 10 years, at approximately 40,000 to 50,000 birds annually as reported in the Red Knot Stopover Population Estimate for 2021 produced by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife and the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.

The USGS stopover population estimate is based on extensive, scientific red knot surveys. Numerous factors affect the red knot population in addition to horseshoe crab egg availability, including habitat loss, human disturbance, predator dynamics and climate change at wintering, migration and nesting areas. More information on shorebird research and monitoring, including the U.S. Geological Survey red knot stopover population report, is available at https://de.gov/shorebirds.

The DuPont Nature Center managed by the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife located near Slaughter Beach provides great views from the center’s large deck overlooking the Mispillion Harbor of a variety of wildlife, including seasonally spawning horseshoe crabs and migrating shorebirds, including the red knot. More information is available from the DuPont Nature Center at de.gov/dnc, where the center’s Mispillion Harbor Cam can be accessed for live views of wildlife visiting the area.

For more information on horseshoe crabs, contact the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Fisheries section at 302-739-9914. For more information on shorebirds, including red knot, contact the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Wildlife section at 302-739-9912.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities, and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife conserves and manages Delaware’s fish and wildlife and their habitats, and provides fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing and boating access on nearly 68,000 acres of public land. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media Contacts: Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov; Nikki Lavoie, nikki.lavoie@delaware.gov