July 11, 2016 — FALMOUTH, Mass. — Scientists will meet with fishermen and the public about the future of a flounder species that regulators say suffers from overfishing.
The Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole will hold the meeting at 10 a.m. July 26 to talk about witch flounder, a popular food fish caught off New England. Federal regulators say the witch flounder is overfished.
The scientists will answer questions relating to an upcoming assessment of the witch flounder stock. They will also take comments from the public.
The catch of witch flounder has fallen from more than 6.4 million pounds in 2004 to a little more than 1.2 million pounds in 2014. Scientists say that’s still too much because the fish’s reproductive rates have been lower than expected.