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Flounder limits get second look
November 05, 2004
PATRICIA SMITH
DAILY NEWS STAFF

MOREHEAD CITY - State fisheries authorities will reconsider a plan to increase the commercial flounder size limit from 13 to 14 inches in inshore waters in a special session Nov. 15.

Marine Fisheries Commission member B.J. Copeland said he plans to put forth a motion to include the size limit increase and a Dec. 1 to Dec. 31 commercial season closure in a final draft of a Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan.

"That's the best we can do, I think," Copeland said.

In an attempt to minimize impacts on commercial fishermen, Copeland led the board in an Oct. 13 decision to omit the size limit increase from the document.

In a 5-4 vote, the commission chose to rely on a Dec. 1 through March 31 commercial and recreational season closure, along with stricter net mesh size requirements, an eight-fish recreational bag limit and other restrictions, to reduce flounder catches enough to allow the over-fished populations to recover.

"It wasn't enough,' Copeland said.

Biologists said the state needs to reduce harvests of southern flounder by about 24 percent in order to achieve recovery of the species within 10 years, as required by law. But an analysis of what the commission approved showed it would result in about a 12 percent to 16 percent catch reduction, depending on how the gear restrictions were applied, said Joe Grist, stock assessment scientist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

That was higher than those who voted against the measure expected, said commission chairman Jimmy Johnson.

"Most folks thought it would probably be less than 12," Johnson said.

Grist said the division was still trying to determine what catch reduction would result from the motion Copeland plans to bring at the special meeting. That motion will also include the gear restrictions and the recreational bag limit approved earlier, Copeland said.

Southern flounder is the species most often caught in the rivers and sounds of North Carolina. It is one of the most economically important finfish to commercial fisherman and the species most targeted by recreational fishermen.

The commission took to public hearing a draft plan calling for a 30-percent reduction of southern flounder harvests after biologists said that no less of a catch reduction would achieve recovery of the fishery in 10 years.

That draft plan proposed increasing the commercial size limit from 13 to 14 inches with a Nov. 8 to Dec. 31 season closure. The proposal brought an outcry from the gill and pound net fisheries.

Following the public hearings, division biologists used an updated computer program and found a 24-percent reduction in commercial harvest might achieve the goal. The division then revised its recommendation to endorse a 14-inch commercial size limit with closure from Nov. 25 through Dec. 31. An advisory committee went with the size limit increase and a Nov. 8 through Dec. 31 season closure for both recreational and commercial fishermen.

A re-evaluation of the assessments has since found that the actual harvest reduction from the division recommended management strategy could be 4 percent to 6 percent lower than thought, said division Director Preston Pate. But biologists still believe the measures will rebuild the fish stocks as required by law, though there is a higher risk that they will not work, he said.

"We'll still stick with our recommendation," Pate said.

The special meeting will begin at 1 p.m. Nov. 15 in the upstairs meeting rooms at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City.

Contact Patricia Smith by calling (252) 808-2275.