This link http://www.oceansalive.org/eat.cfm?subnav=fishpage&group=bass takes you to a page on the Ocean's Alive website. Studying the page reveals that while Ocean's Alive recommends farmed striped bass, it suggests that neither man, woman, or child eat any meals at all of wild striped bass. This is due to chemical contaminants in the fish's flesh. They don't mention it, but the problems with disease in the Chesapeake Bay stripers are definitely causing great concern with consumers.
Here is a link to a very recent story about the high levels of mycobacteria in Chesapeake Bay striped bass http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR2006031002416.html?referrer=emailarticle. This story indicates that a Washington area restaurant now gets its wild stripers from Europe and South America. There aren't any striped bass there, just other kinds of bass, but no one seems to mind. The chef needs to hear more about the farmed fish. They are safe, we've eaten them,
and they are delicious.
Making striped bass a game fish may not solve either of these problems, but if the stripers are threatened by disease we should probably not kill any of them, and hope that it helps this species survive until this problem clears up.
