Southern Flounder Management Information

Southern Flounder Annual Update

The 2019 stock assessment of southern flounder in the South Atlantic indicated the stock is overfished and overfishing is occurring. This assessment passed peer review and the model was accepted for management use. Amendment 3 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan was adopted in May 2022 and maintained a 72% reduction across the fisheries and carried forward several management measures, including minimum size, from Amendment 2. 

At its August 2024 quarterly business meeting, the Marine Fisheries Commission asked the DEQ Secretary "to modify the Annual FMP Review Schedule to amend the Southern Flounder FMP for the 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. The DEQ Secretary approved the request, and the Division of Marine Fisheries began developing Amendment 4 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan.

Amendment 4 was adopted in August 2025 and included a single management change: 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 allocation shift is a short-term approach to address recreational access. Long-term, more comprehensive approaches for recreational and commercial management will be addressed during subsequent development of Amendment 5. All other management measures from Amendment 3 were carried forward in Amendment 4.

For more information, contact Anne Markwith at Anne.Markwith@deq.nc.gov or Charlton Godwin at Charlton.Godwin@deq.nc.gov.