SUMMER FLOUNDER
(06/06 NCDMF)

Average Commercial Landings and Value 1996-2005 – 3,435,183 lbs./$5,770,217

2005 Commercial Landings and Value – 4,053,177 lbs./$7,478,729 (quota managed)

Average Recreational Landings 1996-2005 – 314,820 lbs., 2005 – 177,223 lbs.

Average Number of Award Citations (5 lbs.) 1996-2005* – 377, 2005* – 330

Average Recreational Commercial Gear Landings 2002-2005* - 83,126 lbs., 2005* - 58,099 lbs.

Status of Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) – In North Carolina, summer flounder is currently included in the Interjurisdictional FMPlan, which defers to Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC)/Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) FMP compliance requirements. Currently managed under Amendment 12 to the joint ASMFC/MAFMC FMP for Summer Flounder. Management measures include commercial quotas, minimum mesh sizes for trawls, minimum fish size limits, recreational bag limits, and a moratorium on new entrants into the commercial fishery.

Research and Data Needs – Discard mortality estimates, age comparisons of northern and southern fish using scales and otoliths, continued expansion of observer coverage in the flounder trawl and scallop dredge fisheries.

Current Regulations (2006) – Commercial: 14-inch minimum size limit in internal and ocean waters. Closed season in Atlantic Ocean through November 1, once 80% of quota is harvested. Bycatch trip limit of 100 lbs. during closed season. A License to Land Flounder from the Atlantic Ocean is required to land more than 100 lbs. per trip. Recreational: 14-inch/8-fish limit in internal and ocean waters with no closed season.

Harvest Season - January until 80% of the quota is harvested (March-April) and November to December.

Size at maturity, age at maturity – 11 inches/1.5 years

Historical and current maximum age – 15 years/11 years

Juvenile Abundance Index 1996-2005^# – 13.6, 2005^ – 9.9

Habits/Habitats – Summer flounder are estuarine-dependent members of the left-eyed flounder family that also include southern flounder and gulf flounder. Summer flounder migrate offshore and north during winter and early spring, and inshore and south during summer and fall. Summer flounder spawn from November through March when water temperatures are between 53° and 67° F. Larval summer flounder enter inlets and settle on sandy bottoms in higher-salinity areas of estuaries. After or towards the end of their first year, summer flounder move into ocean waters to spawn and join the coastal migratory groups.

* Includes southern, summer and gulf flounders, but the majority are southern flounder.
^Arithmetic mean from Pamlico Sound Survey (June only)
# 1999 index excluded because sampling conducted in July