Spawning ranges from Croton Point through Coxsackie, Greene County. Eggs and larvae are transported down river, and the preponderance of young stripers use the Haverstraw Bay-Tappan Zee area of the Hudson for a nursery in the summer and fall of their first year. Following spawning, most adults join the ocean migratory stock moving north in summer and then south in fall and winter. In the early 1970s, coast-wide population of striped bass declined 90 percent due to overfishing in coastal waters. Striped bass populations recovered significantly in the 1980s as a result of reduced harvest along the east coast and increased size limits for recreational anglers.
Striped bass are an extremely popular recreational fish.
Hudson River anglers land about 8,000 stripers a year that average 34 inches in length. Many more are caught and released. The State's evaluation of the commercial fishery will assess the impact on the recreational fishery. It must be protected and promoted as part of any plan for a limited commercial fishery. Commercial fishing has been an important industry in the Hudson Valley since Colonial times.