From North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries

MOREHEAD CITY — The Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Advisory Committee will meet at 4 p.m. April 2 at the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Washington regional office, 943 Washington Square Mall, Washington.

The committee is assisting the Division of Marine Fisheries with development of Amendment 2 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan, which could result in management measures impacting both commercial and recreational fisheries.

A 2018 Southeast Regional Southern Flounder Stock Assessment found that southern flounder is overfished and overfishing is occurring throughout the region. Overfished means the population size is too small. Overfishing means the removal rate is too high.

At this meeting, the committee is expected to vote on recommended management measures that will be brought the Marine Fisheries Commission in May. The Marine Fisheries Commission will then vote on draft management measures to take out for public comment. Afterward, the draft measures would come back to the commission for possible adoption in August and be implemented by proclamation before the fall.

An agenda for the committee meeting can be found here.

For more information, contact Mike Loeffler at Michael.Loeffler@ncdenr.gov or 252-264-3911 or Anne Markwith at Anne.Markwith@ncdenr.gov or 910-796-7292.