In August 2026, NOAA corrected its estimates of recreational fishing trips, and the striper numbers came down with them. Anglers caught far fewer fish than the old estimates said. That doesn’t leave more fish in the water: stock assessments work backward from the catch, so if the fishing rate holds, a smaller catch points to a smaller population. Watch the song, then work the numbers yourself.
A 4-minute song and seven short interactives. Produced by Luyen Chou and GotOne for the American Saltwater Guides Association. Numbers from NOAA’s August 31, 2026 correction. About this site.
Work the numbersEvery line of the song as captioned in the film. KID is Kit, the kid from the song.
♪ Tackle Box, Tackle Box Rock! ♪
KID: Fish on! Whoa, a striper!
STRIPER: Easy, kid. Quick picture.
KID: How many stripers are out there?
STRIPER: Good question. They recounted the catch.
♪ Nobody counts every angler, ramp to shoal, ♪
♪ so NOAA runs surveys, like an exit poll. ♪
♪ The mail survey asks how many trips you took, ♪
♪ the ramp survey asks what came up on your hook. ♪
KID: Mail counts trips. Ramp counts fish per trip!
STRIPER: Now you're fishin'!
♪ Trips times the fish per trip, ♪
♪ and out pops the total catch, lickety-split. ♪
♪ Oh, the count! ♪
♪ And the recount! ♪
♪ Comin' in with the tide, ♪
♪ fewer trips, fewer caught, ♪
♪ let the old numbers slide. ♪
♪ It's a sharper tool ♪
♪ Sharper tool! ♪
♪ and a smaller school ♪
♪ Smaller school! ♪
♪ That's the Striper Recount, ♪
♪ Yeah, the Striper Recount! ♪
KID: What went wrong?
STRIPER: The calendar, kid.
♪ The mail form asked about two months at a time, ♪
♪ so trips from other months kept slippin' inside. ♪
♪ Then NOAA tried asking one month at a time, ♪
♪ in seventeen states, with both forms side by side. ♪
♪ Summer barely budged, it hardly moved at all, ♪
♪ but nearly half came off in spring and late fall. ♪
KID: Spring and late fall? Striper season!
STRIPER: Yep. When we run, you fish.
♪ On August 28th the new count was sent, ♪
♪ the whole record down 'bout 42 percent. ♪
STRIPER: About 272 million ghost trips!
KID: Spooky!
KID: Wait. Smaller count means more fish left, right?
STRIPER: Everybody hopes so. Grab a fork. Pie time.
♪ A stock assessment does the math in reverse: ♪
♪ 'cause nobody counts us, so the catch comes first. ♪
♪ Say one in five of the school got caught, ♪
♪ then five times the catch is the school you've got. ♪
♪ Now say the recount brings the catch on down, ♪
♪ if the rate holds steady, one in five's the rule, ♪
♪ a smaller count means fewer fish were around: ♪
♪ smaller catch, smaller school. ♪
KID: Smaller catch... smaller school!
♪ It's a sharper tool ♪
♪ Sharper tool! ♪
♪ and a smaller school ♪
♪ Smaller school! ♪
♪ It ain't extra fish, ♪
♪ No extra fish! ♪
♪ Commercial catch gets counted on its own, ♪
♪ and the recount left those numbers all alone. ♪
♪ Released fish that die go in the killed-fish count, ♪
♪ a new study says 'bout half the old amount. ♪
♪ So the anglers' side came down, then down again, ♪
♪ but the commercial side stayed right where it's been. ♪
♪ Out of all the stripers fishin' kills each year, ♪
♪ the commercial share got bigger, plain and clear. ♪
KID: So commercial didn't go up?
STRIPER: Nope. The anglers' side came down.
STRIPER: Most commercial stripers? The Chesapeake. Where I grew up.
♪ Up the fish ladder, one pool at a time, ♪
KID: Survey, check! Correction, check!
♪ The Commission's new assessment's in the pot: ♪
♪ new count, new release math, WHAM or maybe not. ♪
♪ Then peer review by an independent crew, ♪
♪ then the Management Board sets the rules for you. ♪
♪ Nobody knows yet how the rules will land, ♪
♪ so I'll sit tight and wait, suitcase close at hand. ♪
♪ Oh, the count! ♪
♪ And the recount! ♪
♪ Comin' in with the tide, ♪
♪ fewer trips, fewer caught, ♪
♪ and the Board will decide. ♪
♪ It's a sharper tool ♪
♪ Sharper tool! ♪
♪ and a smaller school ♪
♪ Here's to someday! ♪
KID: How many times you been caught?
STRIPER: Lost count, kid. Till next spring.
♪ Tackle Box, Tackle Box Rock! ♪
♪ Tackle Box, Tackle Box... Rock! ♪
How much did the recount change?
NOAA found its mail survey counted far too many fishing trips, striper trips included. Across the whole record the corrected count has about 58 striper trips for every 100 in the old one. The other 42 never happened, which is the song’s “down about 42 percent”.
Fewer fish caught. So more fish left?
No. Stock assessments work out how many stripers there are from how many were taken out. If the fishing rate holds, a smaller catch means a smaller population, not more fish left.
Did anglers’ share of the fish killed change?
Yes. It shrank with the survey fix, and it will shrink again if the assessment adopts a new study showing about half as many released stripers die.
So what happens to the rules?
The benchmark assessment will work out what the corrected count means for the stock, and the Board sets the rules from it. Nobody knows the outcome yet. To follow along, see “What you can do” on the site.