May 24, 2013 — The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries will hold a meeting June 4 to discuss possible management strategies to address issue impacting the state’s commercial summer flounder fishery.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Regional Office, 943 Washington Square Mall, Washington.
At this meeting, the division will seek stakeholder feedback on how to best use the state’s summer flounder quota, including:
What trip limits and landing windows best meet fishermen’s market needs.
How much quota should be reserved for the fall fishery.
Under what circumstances the state should allow North Carolina’s quota to be landed at fish houses in other states.
Summer flounder is a migratory fish that is jointly managed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a federally-authorized board that coordinates fishery management in state waters between the East Coast states, and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, one of eight federal regional councils that manage fisheries in federal waters.
An annual commercial quota is allocated to the states from Maine to North Carolina based on historical landings. North Carolina receives 27.4 percent of the coast-wide commercial quota, the highest percentage of any state.
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