State WRC sets recreational flounder season separate from state fisheries division season

Jul 24, 2023

MOREHEAD CITY — The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will allow a recreational summer flounder season in inland waters in September, creating consternation at the N.C. Fisheries Association, a private trade and lobbying group for commercial fishermen who have been mostly cut off in recent years from a species that once was one of their primary money-makers.

“In the middle of trying to rebuild the southern flounder population in our state, the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission has decided this year to have a separate recreational season outside of the recreational season set by the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF),” Thomas Newman of the association said in an email Monday.

“Not only do these season dates not align (the WRC season runs September 1-14 and the DMF season runs September 15-29) but the WRC has set a four-flounder bag limit (per day) during their season while the DMF bag limit is only one flounder.”

Glen Skinner, executive director of the Morehead City-based association, said Monday the separate seasons for coastal waters and jointly managed inland waters will cause confusion for the recreational fishermen, who will have different rules to contend with by crossing an “imaginary line” that delineates waters where the fisheries division has sole authority (coastal waters) and waters where saltwater and freshwater fish are jointly managed by the two agencies.

“You could catch fish on one side of the line, and it would be legal, cross that line and it would be illegal, then cross the line again and it would be legal again,” he said. “It makes no sense.”

In addition, he said, it goes against the state’s plan to rebuild the stock by allowing a higher daily catch.

It’s long been an important fishery, and everyone – both state agencies and commercial and recreational fishermen – want the overfished stock rebuilt.

In 1994, the commercial southern flounder season was worth more than $8 million, with a catch of 4.8 million pounds, but it’s been steadily declining since then. In 2021, the last year for which statistics are available on the fisheries division website, it was worth only $1.4 million for a catch of about 480,000 pounds.

The state marine fisheries commission, policy-making arm of the fisheries division, addressed the issue briefly during its quarterly meeting Friday in New Bern. Phillip Reynolds, legal counsel for the commission, said, “There is no scientific basis showing that (the WRC season and bag limit) is an appropriate measure.”

The fisheries commission adopted the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 during its May 2022 business meeting. The goal of Amendment 3 is to achieve a self-sustaining population for the overfished stock that provides a sustainable harvest. Amendment 3 maintained a 72% reduction across the fisheries and carried forward several management measures, including minimum size, from Amendment 2.

Management measures include:

Quota management with accountability measures, including paybacks, for all fisheries.

Commercial allocation between mobile gear and pound nets divided among two mobile gear areas and three-pound net areas.

Single recreational season for hook-and-line and gigs.

Initiate steps to parity of commercial and recreation allocations by 2026.

Recreational bag limit of one fish per person per day.

Prohibit use of Recreational Commercial Gear License (RCGL) gear to harvest southern flounder.

A spring ocellated flounder season for hook-and-line only in the ocean.

As a result of the problems in the flounder stock, the fisheries division earlier this year announced very limited commercial and recreation fishery seasons, with stringent requirements.

Commercial:

All pound net management areas will open with initial trip limits. Trip limits will be decreased during the season based on the amount of quota available.

Pound Net Management Area opening date in waters north of Pamlico Sound will be Friday, Sept. 15 with a trip limit of 1,000 pounds.

In the central area, Pamlico Sound and its tributaries, the opening date will Sunday, Oct. 1 with a trip limit of 2,000 pounds.

In the southern area, from Core Sound to the South Carolina line, the opening day will be Sunday, Oct. 1 with a trip limit of 500 pounds.

As for mobile gears, all gears other than pound nets used to harvest southern flounder. Mobile gears are split into two management areas:

- Northern (waters south of the Virginia line to the Incidental Take Permit BD boundary line).

- Southern (waters from the ITP BD boundary line to the South Carolina line).

All mobile gears will open to harvest Tues., Oct. 3. Harvest of fish from gill nets will only be allowed Tuesday through Thursday each week until the management area closes. Use of gigs and all other gears will be allowed seven days a week.

The division says harvest period for each flounder management area and gear category will close to maintain harvest within the landings sub-allocation when the allowable landings are approached. DMF will announce the closings by proclamation as necessary during the season.

Recreational:

The 2023 recreational flounder season in waters managed by the fisheries division will open at 12:01 a.m. Sept. 15 and close at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 29.

The season will open with the following provisions for both the recreational hook-and-line and gig fisheries:

- A one-fish per person per day creel limit.

- A 15-inch total length minimum size limit (from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail).

Harvest of flounder under a recreational commercial gear license will be prohibited.

The season and possession limits are set annually to keep the fishery within the recreational quota approved by the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission in the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3. The plan also specifies any overage to the recreational Total Allowable Catch (TAC) requires a pound-for-pound payback subtracted from the following year’s allowable harvest. In 2022, the recreational TAC of 170,655 pounds was exceeded by 56,340 pounds.

For 2023, this means the TAC for the recreational season will be 114,315 pounds.

Discard mortality is accounted for in the estimates of TAC. During 2022, dead discards during and outside of the southern flounder recreational season contributed significantly to the total removals from this fishery and the overage in the TAC.

For this reason, the division discourages anglers from targeting flounder for catch-and-release after they have caught their one-fish limit or when the season is closed.

During the open season, the division also discourages anglers from high-grading (retaining a fish until a larger one is caught) as these increases post-release mortality leading to additional dead discards.

Contact Brad Rich at 252-864-1532; email [email protected]; or follow on Twitter @brichccnt.

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