Closure date is unclear
In their Aug. 23 meeting, the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission adopted the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 2. In short, this means the Division of Marine Fisheries will close the species to harvest by commercial and recreational anglers for an extended period of time.
The exact date that the closure will be effective is still unclear. But according to the Division of Marine Fisheries, they will issue the closure proclamation next week, with an anticipated effective date of “on or around Sept. 4, 2019.”
In the meantime, anglers are free to follow the current rules and regulations for harvesting flounder.
It is also currently unclear when the fishery will reopen to harvesting.
For more information, click here to read North Carolina Environmental Quality’s update on the flounder closure. Scroll to the bottom of that page for other documents that offer scenarios of when the next harvest season will open, and what the limits will be.
