The commercial season for striped bass ended this past Wednesday. The closure came when fisheries managers estimated that the 1,061,898-pound quota had been taken in Massachusetts. The season ran short this year.

Last year the 1.12 million-pound quota was taken at the conclusion of the third week of August. The fishery was closed on August 22.

Recreational fishing for striped bass continues. Anglers are required to possess a state saltwater recreational fishing license. They are allowed a bag limit of two fish per day; the minimum size is 28 inches.

Despite worrying declines in striped bass and lobster stocks, regulators this week deferred any significant action to curb the fisheries. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission did take a step toward restoring menhaden, a bait fish consumed by lobsters, striped bass and nearly all other swimming fish.

A drastic decline in striped bass stocks has state and federal officials scrambling to protect the fish, but many recreational fishermen say the government isn’t moving fast enough.

In an incident that has reverberated among fishermen up the East Coast, more than 10 tons of illegally caught striped bass were confiscated by environmental police in Maryland over the last two weeks.

In an uncommon gesture toward Island fishermen, the state Marine Fisheries Commission brought its monthly business meeting to the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven yesterday afternoon. Beneath the large Stanley Murphy mural paintings of fishing life on the Vineyard, the commission tackled topics that affect the lives of local and state commercial fishermen, such as extending the striped bass fishing season and attempts to resuscitate the ailing herring population.

At a first-class Vineyard seafood restaurant a diner asks the waitress: “What is the local Vineyard catch of the day?” The waitress responds: “I am sorry, we have no Vineyard fish on the menu today.” And the customer is surprised. “How can that be? I was down on the jetty this afternoon and I watched a fisherman land a beautiful large striped bass.”

Figures recently released by a federal monitoring program should have more than raised loud alarm bells: total catch of striped bass by recreational fishermen in Massachusetts has fallen by almost 84 per cent over the past six years. In 2006, more than eight million fish were reported taken by rod-and-reel sports anglers. In 2011, the preliminary figure was 1.3 million. Even over the course of a year, the decrease was 690,000 fish, or 34 per cent less than in 2010.