For our fishing folks out there, striped bass fishing season starts on May 16th. Pan-seared, grilled, or sauté, Striped Bass is a white, flaky fish with just enough fat to melt in your mouth. Mild and sweet, not many folks won’t say yes to a bite of this tasty fish.
Striped bass is not just delicious, but also culturally important to Maryland: although it wasn’t designated our state fish until 1965, we have been fishing for striped bass for centuries. In fact, perhaps your family doesn’t call them striped bass at all—some call them rockfish, a name popular primarily within the Chesapeake Bay region. Stripers or Linsiders are also used, though the latter term in particular is not quite as common.
Hybrid striped bass, as the name implies, is a hybrid; a cross between the striped bass and the closely related white bass. Most people agree that the flesh of the striped bass and the hybrid striped bass taste pretty much the same, though the striped bass is supposedly richer in flavor.
Striped bass is what you catch in the wild. If you manage to catch hybrid out in the wild, it is likely from an artificially stocked lake or river, meaning that before these hybrids were released, they were raised via aquaculture. Following this line of logic, it makes sense that if you forgo the fishing and decide to buy striped bass at the supermarket, it is also most likely to be a hybrid.
So why does the hybrid striped bass even exist? The wild striped bass that swims free in the Chesapeake has strict fishing limits for recreational and commercial anglers, which means that the demand for this fish can often exceed these limits. The next logical step would be then to try to raise striped bass in captivity for both food and stocking. However, striped bass purportedly does not taste nearly as good when farm raised! A conundrum indeed. This hybridization of the white bass and striped bass, however, maintains their flavor in captivity. White bass is also a much hardier fish than striped bass, and this hardiness transfers over to the hybrid, making them easier to maintain [4]. As a general observation, the hybrid is also a more aggressive feeder, making it easier for anglers to get a bite when fishing for them in stocked ponds.
Most hybrid striped bass are not even raised in Maryland. Though much knowledge of these hybrids comes from Maryland scientists, most of their effort goes into helping states outside of Maryland raise them [5]. North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky, Indiana, California and Tennessee are all major hybrid producers. The aquaculture systems in which they are raised can vary, with some states favoring pond systems (see our article in March), and some RAS (see our article in January) [6].
The reason for this is that when hybrid striped bass first came onto the scene, both watermen and legislators in Maryland were reluctant to bring in an enterprise that would not only compete with the local wild catch, but couldn’t even cover its own expenses. In other words, the price of hybrid striped bass would not sell enough to cover the expenses of raising it in Maryland.
Like seemingly everything in the Chesapeake Bay, the wild striped bass population is suffering for a number of reasons, including the invasive blue catfish, who like to eat juvenile striped bass. Currently, conservation efforts are being put forth to try to achieve sustainable numbers for human consumption and environmental balance. There are some who are hopeful that hybrid striped bass aquaculture will assist with these efforts by being a supplementary fish on people’s dinner plates, rather than a competitor to the true striped bass.
For those of you who like to cook, whether you’ve got a striped bass or a hybrid on hand, an easy and delicious dinner: put chopped shallots, bell peppers, tomatoes, capers, garlic, thyme, a little wine, a little stock, salt and pepper in a large heavy pan. Cook it in the oven, covered with a lid at 400°F for about 20 minutes. It will create a thick sauce. Remove the pan, and nestle the bass filets into the middle of the pan with seasoning of your choice–though I highly recommend butter as at least one of the seasonings. Pop back into the oven, uncovered, until the fish is just cooked though (about another 15-20 minutes.) Serve atop orzo, rice, or your favorite carb!
References:
[1] https://www.calvertcountymd.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/196#
[3] https://www.chefs-resources.com/seafood/finfish/striped-bass/
[4] https://hybridstripedbass.wordpress.ncsu.edu/history/
[5] https://www.chesapeakequarterly.net/V17N1/main3/
[6] https://www.mdsg.umd.edu/sites/default/files/files/Cultureofstripedbass.pdf