February 1, 2024Striped Bass Fishery helps shape Virginia’s economy Past & Present!

While Striped Bass season is in progress, we wanted to make Striped Bass the VMPB Fish of the Day. Striped Bass is a high-quality flaky meat with a mild flavor. The Striped Bass fishery is one of the oldest in Virginia, dating back to the colonial era, and has historically been one of the states most important. In fact, the first free public school of the New World and pension funds for the widows and orphans of men formerly engaged in service to the Colony were also funded, in part, through monies derived from the sale of striped bass and Striped Bass is one of the first natural resources to benefit from a conservation statute attested to in 1639. The Striped Bass fishery still has an enormous impact on Virginia’s economy. Based on the latest NOAA and VMRC landing figures 1,123,353 pounds of Striped Bass were landed in Virginia and they had a total dollar value of $3,791,481.00 in 2021.