For more than six decades, striped bass fishing has been a major passion for Bill Jakob. He still remembers spending entire nights casting into the rough waves off Montauk and returning with eight or nine fish weighing up to 40 pounds (18 kilograms) each.

However, after years of intensive fishing, those large catches gradually became less frequent.

"I was part of the problem in those years. I operated party boats, and we caught fish recklessly without considering the consequences," said Jakob, president of the Montauk Surfcasters Association on the eastern tip of Long Island.

Like Jakob, an increasing number of fishermen are concerned that the golden days of striped bass fishing may be disappearing. The fish are no longer appearing in the numbers they once did, while finding younger striped bass has also become increasingly difficult.

Scientists studying the species say these concerns are justified, pointing to prolonged overfishing as one of several contributing factors. Regulators reported last week that striped bass have experienced eight consecutive years of poor reproduction in their most important breeding ground, the Chesapeake Bay. Their population has also declined across much of the Atlantic coast.

Scientists have raised concerns about several additional threats, including rising water temperatures, reduced river flows, drought, pollution and potentially increased predation by seals and sharks.

These challenges have raised questions about whether stricter fishing restrictions alone would be sufficient to restore the population.

The decline of striped bass, important predators that help maintain the balance of marine ecosystems by controlling smaller fish populations, could also have serious economic consequences, putting an $8 billion fishing industry and tens of thousands of jobs at risk.