Marine fisheries to limit flounder seasons in North Carolina again, leaving fishermen in disbelief
Morehead City, N.C. — North Carolina is trying to slow down flounder fishing on the coast, but leaders of the effort say some fishermen still aren’t doing their part.
To protect the population, the state’s planning on tightening the net on flounder fishing even further.
“There’s definitely been an impact, that’s for sure,” Sound-N-Sea Morehead charter captain Matt Paylor said. “It’s got some people in a whirlwind.”
In fall 2019, North Carolina’s Division of Marine Fisheries said flounder were being over fished, and that anglers needed to be allowed to catch only about a quarter the amount of fish they were catching to get the population back to a healthy size.
To do that, they set up limited flounder seasons for both commercial and recreational fishermen, and limited commercial fishermen to 70% of the total allotment, with 30% allowed for those fishing for fun.
On Thursday, the commission saw the latest results from that effort: in 2020, North Carolinians reeled in about half as many flounder as they did in 2017, but both groups have still been catching too many, with recreational fishermen bringing in three times the total number of flounder the plan allowed them.
Because of that, leaders of the DMF said the division would be changing the seasons so both recreational and commercial fishermen would bring in even fewer flounder.
“The 45-day limit, I can’t believe it passed last year,” Paylor said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Guides, like Paylor, who run fishing charters for flounder said while the seasons may cause people to catch fewer fish, they’re also impacting business.
“A lot of people drive from hours away, Fayetteville, Raleigh, Greenville, and they come down to the beach almost every weekend just to go flounder fishing,” said Paylor.
The Division of Marine Fisheries hasn’t said how exactly the new flounder seasons will be changed, as the division planned to finalize those dates as soon as this summer.
By accepting you will be accessing a service provided by a third-party external to https://oc3anclub.com/