Striped bass are struggling. Here's what it will take to bring them back
From dam removal to climate advocacy, Riverkeeper is fighting to restore Hudson River striped bass while it's still possible
June 3, 2026
David Stormer, Ph.D.
Habitat Restoration Director
Key takeaways
- Striped bass have had poor reproduction in the Hudson River for three years in a row — part of a troubling decade-long trend that could mean far fewer adult fish by 2030.
- Striped bass struggle to reproduce and survive due to climate change, poor water conditions, and thousands of old dams blocking their habitat.
- Removing dams, catching fewer fish, and temporarily closing fishing during key seasons are all efforts that would help striped bass recover before a key 2029 deadline.
In 2025, for the third year in a row, the number of striped bass reproducing in the Hudson River was below average, raising significant concerns about the long-term health of the Atlantic coast population of this iconic species.
This is the seventh year in the last decade that these numbers were below average, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC), which has been collecting data on striped bass populations in the Hudson since 1979.
Using nets at more than a dozen sites along the river, the NYS DEC catches and releases young striped bass to calculate a measure of reproductive health, or “recruitment,” for the Hudson’s population. For 2025, that number was below the 25th percentile.
To make matters worse, numbers for the Chesapeake Bay — measured by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources — were also below the long-term average for the seventh consecutive year. This is important because together the Hudson River and the Chesapeake Bay produce about 90 percent of the Atlantic striped bass population.
Because it takes around four to six years for stripers to grow to a size that allows them to be legally kept when caught, unless we take action now to protect the population, we're likely to see fewer and fewer fish in the adult population over the next few years.
It’s not entirely clear why these declines are happening, but there are likely several reasons, and states up and down the coast (including New York) are working to learn more. Many believe that the cause is largely environmental. Unlike much of the Chesapeake Bay, a number of measures of water quality in the Hudson have improved over the last few years. However, seasonal conditions (things like water temperature, rainfall, and salinity) have been less than ideal.
These conditions — which are influenced by climate change — impact striped bass reproduction from year to year. Riverkeeper has a long history of supporting initiatives and legislation to address the effects of climate change in the Hudson River.
Nursery habitats are also critical for fish, providing protected, food-rich environments that maximize the growth and survival of young fish, directly supporting population restoration and sustainable fisheries. Tributaries to large rivers like the Hudson are excellent nursery habitats and are crucial for fish survival, growth, and recruitment. These small waterways often provide more habitat for young fish than large rivers, even for those that live in larger waters as adults.
There are nearly 4,000 miles of young fish habitat across the dozens of tributaries connected to the Hudson River. Unfortunately, fish are blocked from getting to most of this habitat by the more than 4,000 obsolete dams choking streams and creeks throughout the watershed. Riverkeeper works to break down these barriers, reconnecting the Hudson and its tributaries and helping fish regain access to critical habitat. And it’s working — when we take dams down, we see young striped bass return almost immediately!
Fishing also affects striped bass numbers. In ocean waters from Maine to North Carolina, Atlantic striped bass are cooperatively managed through a plan coordinated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC). The ASMFC currently classifies striped bass as “overfished,” meaning the combined total weight of all sexually mature females, or “biomass,” is below the mark required to maintain a healthy population. Recreational fishing accounts for a majority of striper deaths due to fishing, and warming water temperatures may be leading to higher catch and release mortality for cool-water species like striped bass. Riverkeeper is calling for more protective management measures, including fish removal reductions and limited, seasonal closures for striped bass to help improve the chances striped bass populations hit their the 2029 recovery targets that the ASFMC put in place.
In an effort to promote striped bass recovery, Riverkeeper has partnered with the Save A Million Bass effort, an angler-led education campaign dedicated to conserving striped bass populations by promoting responsible catch-and-release practices and sustainable fishing regulations. Because catch-and-release fishing sometimes results in unintended death of stripers, the goal is to significantly reduce post-release mortality to help rebuild the striper population.
Although the ASMFC striped bass board chose the status-quo or “do nothing” approach to the 2026 striped bass fishing season, they approved the creation of a Riverkeeper-supported work group to explore the factors associated with recent years’ poor reproduction numbers.
The work group will also:
- Focus on approaches to future species conservation and fishery sustainability that more closely consider young fish survival
- Review whether adding fish bred in hatcheries could improve population health
- Evaluate how river systems like the Hudson contribute to the coastwide striped bass population
- Explore the impacts of climate change and invasive species on the population
- Examine ways to address the large percentage of striped bass that die after being caught and released by recreational anglers
We are hopeful that the work group will lead to a deeper understanding of striped bass and improved future management of this critical species. Restoring striped bass now will help revive a vital coastal species and ensure anglers have the opportunity to sustainably catch them now and for generations to come.
Riverkeeper will continue pushing for the protections stripers need to recover — from removing the obsolete dams that block access to critical nursery habitat, to advocating for the climate policies and fishing regulations that give this iconic species a fighting chance.
Related campaigns
Saving Hudson River fish
Protecting iconic species vital to our local ecosystems
Dam removal
By removing old, obsolete dams, we are healing the ecosystem and restoring life to the Hudson and its tributaries
Protecting and restoring habitats
The Hudson River watershed is home to a breathtaking diversity of life. Protecting and restoring our aquatic habitats is critical for their renewal and for a healthy future for all life in the watershed
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