New Jersey has narrowly avoided a fight with the federal government over fish the state was very close to being found out of compliance with a federal rule protecting striped bass a species that's been overfished in New Jersey for years but the New Jersey marine fisheries Council this week voted to adopt emergency regulations that will make it much harder to catch and keep striped bass for the rest of this year after new data showed a spike in the catch last year the new rules could help restore the Atlantic striped bass population by 2029 the goal of a federal Council working to save the species but the new rules are not without controversy they've been heavily criticized by charter boat captains who fear it'll hurt their business because customers won't pay for trips if they can't bring home a fish but ultimately the state Council didn't have much of a choice they had until July 2nd to adopt the rules or face the consequences [Music] [Music]