New Limits for Flounder Start Today
By Suzanne Ulbrich, The Daily News, Jacksonville, N.C.
Mar. 1–Starting today, the minimum size limit for recreational flounder will increase an inch in some areas.
The Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) set stricter limits for recreational anglers from the Virginia state line to Browns Inlet, near Jacksonville. With the new size limit, flounder must now be 15.5 inches total length if caught in the ocean and sounds in these areas.
North Carolina creel limits remain at eight fish per person per day in all North Carolina coastal waters.
The size limit remains at 14 inches in western rivers and sounds and south of Browns Inlet.
Flounder biologist Chris Batsavage explained that flounder management is very complex, particularly in North Carolina.
“We have both summer and southern flounder in North Carolina,” Batsavage said.
North Carolina is the southernmost range for summer flounder and the northernmost rage for southern flounder.
“Management in North Carolina is more complex because we have both these species with different management plans and management strategies,” Batsavage said. “The Division of Marine Fisheries manages summer flounder, which is not found much farther south of Browns Inlet.”
He explained the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission oversee summer flounder up and down the coast, since it is considered overfished. Each year, scientists with these organizations determine how many summer flounder can safely be removed and still allow the stock to adequately repopulate itself. It allocates quotas based on these studies.
“Recreational harvest is determined through what we call a MRFSS, Marine Recreational Statistics Survey,” Batsavage said. “Samples are taken, we interview anglers when they come off the water — when we conduct this annual stock assessment we look at a host of data, including landing data, which gives us an idea of what the trends are over time to determine what a healthy population would be.
“The recreational allocation was reduced for 2008, because in 2007 anglers caught more and went over their allocation, so DMF put in management measures to reduce the allocation by approximately 34 percent,” he went on to explain.
North Carolina had been allocated 137,000 fish for 2007. Fishermen caught 174,000 fish.
Commercial fishermen operate under a different quota, but also experienced a quota reduction at the start of the year.
The commercial quota was reduced to 2.56 million pounds. Last year, it was 2.68 million pounds.
“Once the quota is met, we shut it down,” Batsavage said.
“We do have open seasons, which mean commercial fishermen who have permits to land summer flounder are allowed to land 10,000 pounds. And we have by-catch limits, which allows commercial fishermen to keep up to 100 pounds on a per trip basis,” he added.
The Web site, http://www.ncangler.com/forums/f29/flounder-size-limit-increases-6445.html, known as the North Carolina Angler, has posted the entire proclamation and anglers have begun posting their opinions on the subject.
Contact Topsail area reporter Suzanne Ulbrich at sulbrich@freedomenc.com or 910-219-8466. Visit www.jdnews.com to comment on this report.
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