Frequently Asked Questions about Southern Flounder Management
The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission adopted the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 4 at its August 2025 meeting. Amendment 4 includes the same robust management strategies from Amendment 3, such as commercial and recreational quotas with pound for pound paybacks if exceeded. The single management change from Amendment 3 was shifting the quota allocation to 50/50 commercial/recreational up one year to begin in 2025 rather than in 2026 as prescribed in Amendment 3. This action was taken in response to a motion the Marine Fisheries Commission made at its August 2024 quarterly business meeting to ask the DEQ Secretary "to modify the Annual FMP Review Schedule to amend the Southern Flounder FMP for review of the plan to begin in 2024" with the intention of that amendment to allow for more recreational access to the fishery while maintaining the rebuilding requirements of Amendment 3.
View the Division's Information on Southern Flounder Amendment 3 page
The 2025 recreational flounder fishery will be open in Internal Coastal and Joint fishing waters Sept. 1 and close Sept. 14. The two-week season will open with the following provisions for both the recreational hook-and-line and gig fisheries:
- A one-fish per person per day creel limit.
- A 15-inch total length minimum size limit.
Harvest of flounder with a Recreational Commercial Gear License will be prohibited. For more information see the news release and the proclamation.
The 2025 southern flounder commercial fishery season opening dates vary based on Founder Gear Management Areas outlined in Amendment 4.
Pound Net Management Areas:
| Pound Net Management Area | Opening Date | Opening Trip Limit |
| Northern (waters north of Pamlico Sound) | Sept. 15 | 500 pounds |
| Central (Pamlico Sound and its tributaries) | Oct. 1 | 1,000 pounds |
| Southern (waters from Core Sound to the South Carolina line) | Oct. 1 | 500 pounds |
Mobile Gear Management Areas:
Mobile Gears are all gears other than pound nets used to harvest southern flounder. Mobile gears are split into two management areas:
- Northern-waters south of the North Carolina/Virginia boarder to a line in Core Sound which runs approximately from the Club House on Core Banks westerly to a point on the shore at Davis near Marker "1".
- Southern-waters from the line in Core Sound described above south to the North Carolina/South Carolina border.
All mobile gears will open Oct. 1 in both the Northern and Southern Management Areas with the following caveats:
- Large-mesh gill nets will be open for the harvest of flounder one day per week on Wednesdays, with nets set no sooner than one hour before sunset the day before.
- All other mobile gears for the harvest of flounder will be open seven days per week.
The open harvest period for each Flounder Management Area and Gear Category will close to maintain harvest within the landings sub-allocation when the allowable landings are approached. DMF will announce the closings by proclamation as necessary during the season.
The Marine Fisheries Commission maintained a southern flounder harvest reduction goal of 72% in Amendment 4. The harvest reduction goal of 72% has been in place since 2020 and was implemented as part of Amendment 2 management. This reduction is more conservative than the minimum required to achieve sustainable harvest.
The 2019 South Atlantic Southern Flounder Stock Assessment found that southern flounder is overfished and overfishing is occurring throughout the region (North Carolina through the eastern coast of Florida). Overfished means the population is too small. Overfishing means the removal rate is too high. North Carolina law mandates that fishery management plans include measures to end overfishing within two years of adoption and rebuild the stock to achieve sustainable harvest within 10 years of adoption of a fishery management plan. Division of Marine Fisheries Staff developed and the Marine Fisheries Commission approved harvest reductions necessary to meet the legally mandated rebuilding timeline to achieve a sustainable fishery.
Overfished and Overfishing Figures
Figure 1 below shows that the spawning stock biomass (SSB) does not meet the 4,000 metric ton threshold, which is the lowest level that it needs to meet to be considered rebuilt. The dotted lines (2SD) indicate the uncertainty about the estimates (standard deviation). The Fishery Management Plan strives to achieve the target level to increase the likelihood of rebuilding the stock to end the overfished status within 10 years.
Figure 2 below shows that the rate of fishing removals from the stock (F) is higher than the threshold, which is the highest rate of removals the stock can withstand. The dotted lines (2SD) indicate the uncertainty about the estimates (standard deviation). The Fishery Management Plan strives to achieve the target level of fishing removals to increase the likelihood of ending overfishing within two years.
Figure 2. Estimated fishing mortality rates (numbers-weighted, ages 2–4) compared to established reference points, 1989–2017. (Source: Flowers et al. 2019).
Total Allowable Landings (TAL)
Establishes annual maximum fishing harvest limits (in pounds) for both the recreational and commercial fisheries. TAL is used to monitor the quota in season.
The commercial TAL is from North Carolina trip ticket landings. Landings, in pounds, are monitored daily within the flounder season.
The recreational TAL is calculated from the MRIP hook-and-line fishery estimates and the NCDMF Gig Mail Survey estimates.
Total Allowable Catch (TAC)
Equal to the TAL plus the fish that were discarded and assumed dead (dead discards). TAC is calculated at the end of the fishing year and equals all removals (harvest and dead discards) from the population.
The commercial TAC is equal to the commercial TAL plus calculated dead discards from the gill net fishery.
The recreational TAC is equal to the recreational TAL plus dead discards calculated from MRIP discards and NCDMF Gig Survey dead discards.
Amendment 4 sector harvest allocations of 50% commercial and 50% recreational starting in 2025, one year earlier than outlined in Amendment 3.
The commercial fishery for flounder in the ocean is a trawl-based fishery that targets summer flounder which is managed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC Summer Flounder). The 2025 stock assessment indicated the summer flounder stock is not overfished and overfishing is not occurring. The commercial ocean trawl fishery typically occurs in waters off New Jersey through southern New England, outside of the southern flounder range. The summer flounder catch is transported back to North Carolina to offload using North Carolina’s commercial summer flounder quota. Very few flounder are caught in trawls off North Carolina’s coast. Flounder landings from the commercial ocean trawl fishery are almost exclusively summer flounder; this is based off fish house sampling data where NCDMF biologists determine the ID of the flounder sampled.
When open, North Carolina’s recreational ocean flounder harvest occurs in North Carolina waters, where summer flounder, southern flounder, and Gulf flounder mix. Species ratios for flounder from the ocean recreational fishery can vary across the state and seasonally. Division of Marine Fisheries sampling data indicate that on average up to 50% of North Carolina’s ocean recreational flounder harvest is southern flounder.
Amendment 4 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan includes a provision for a March 1 to April 15 recreational Gulf and summer flounder season for hook-and-line in the ocean. Any southern flounder landings and discards from this season will impact the August-September recreational flounder season. Additionally, the early recreational ocellated season may not occur in order to prevent exceeding the TAL for the recreational southern flounder fishery.
The Division of Marine Fisheries discourages anglers from targeting flounder for catch and release. The division estimates a 9% discard mortality rate in the recreational southern flounder hook-and-line fishery, so any catch-and-release fishing can have a negative impact on the recovery of the stock. Estimates of dead discards count towards the recreational Total Allowable Catch. Targeting flounder outside of the season reduces the volume of available harvest during the open season so this activity may impact the length of future seasons.
The N.C. Saltwater Fishing Tournament (Citation Program) will not issue citations for flounder during the recreational season closure.
Recreational fishermen take between 500,000 and 1 million fishing trips that target or catch flounder every year, during and outside of the harvest season. While individual fishermen may not harvest many fish per trip, the total catch from all trips can be significant.
During the two week-long 2023 flounder season, recreational fishermen removed 241,609 pounds of southern flounder (includes hook and line and gigs). This number is primarily harvest, but also includes the fish that die after being released (dead discards). The total catch is over the adjusted allowable removals of 114,315 pounds. Since the adoption of Amendment 3, the recreational fishery has exceeded their total allowable catch each year.
| Recreational Hook and Line Southern Flounder Catch | |||
| Numbers | Weight (pounds) | ||
| Year | Landed | Released | Landed |
| 2014 | 209,228 | 1,856,280 | 447,337 |
| 2015 | 249,166 | 1,709,189 | 558,303 |
| 2016 | 299,273 | 2,178,145 | 695,713 |
| 2017 | 221,321 | 1,988,000 | 451,126 |
| 2018 | 217,805 | 1,002,753 | 495,289 |
| 2019* | 163,045 | 1,353,286 | 387,203 |
| 2020* | 152,244 | 1,678,494 | 398,769 |
| 2021* | 266,421 | 1,940,051 | 560,440 |
| 2022*† | 70,945 | 2,792,144 | 166,102 |
| 2023*† | 77,885 | 2,185,629 | 192,168 |
| 2024*† | 5,713 | 1,677,039 | 9,446 |
| *seasonal flounder fishery closure in effect † Amendment 3 in place, bag limit dropped from 4 fish to 1 fish | |||
The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ Coastal Angling Program, in collaboration with the federal Marine Recreational Information Program, surveys Coastal Recreational Fishing License holders throughout the year by mail, telephone, and online. Recreational fishermen are also interviewed at boat ramps, beaches, and piers. These surveys ask for information such as where an angler fished, how many fish they caught, what type of gear they used, and how many fish they threw back. This data is used to produce estimates of recreational harvest.
To determine if the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) has been met or exceeded the annual recreational landings and dead discards are combined and compared to the TAC established in Amendment 4. For a visual representation of the calculation, please see the flounder landings presentation given at the February 2023 MFC quarterly business meeting.
The state of Florida implemented additional regulations on their commercial and recreational flounder fisheries in March 2021. South Carolina increased the size limit and lowered the bag limit on flounder effective July 1, 2021. South Carolina also established a funding source for a state flounder stocking program. All states are working together to address research needs.
Regardless of what other states do, North Carolina’s combined commercial and recreational harvest of southern flounder makes up 57% of the total removals, so it is likely a successful management strategy implemented by North Carolina will help the overall stock.