January 9, 2023 — Third and final in a series investigating why, after years of consistent seasons for inland, joint and coastal waters, recreational anglers found themselves negotiating different flounder and mullet rules in 2023.
Disagreements between the two commissions that manage state waters began to flare in 2019 after they formed an interagency committee to work on the required 10-year review on rules for the joint waters they both manage.
With the threat of these rules expiring in 2022 looming over the Wildlife Resources Commission that manages inland waters and the Marine Fisheries Commission manages coastal waters and the two never coming to an agreement, the governor’s office directed the agencies in February 2022 to adopt the existing joint rules without any changes.
The joint rules address scope and purpose, the classification of inland, coastal and joint waters, posting dividing lines, applicability of rules and special regulations for joint waters, and estuarine striped bass management.
Though there was mounting conflict evident between the agencies, what highlighted the impasse was the two recreational flounder seasons in September 2023. The WRC season was the first two weeks and MFC’s was the second two weeks, leading to confusion and even warnings issued to some fishers for breaking one agency’s rules.
North Carolina Fisheries Association Executive Director Glenn Skinner told Coastal Review that with the two agencies trying to decide who has authority over what, “you’ve got a lot of stakeholders that are really caught in the middle. And that’s a shame whenever it comes to that.”
What kept the inland and coastal seasons concurrent was a 2011 Wildlife Resources Commission rule to mirror the recreational seatrout, flounder and red drum seasons set by the Marine Fisheries Commission or Division of Marine Fisheries, which carries out the Marine Fisheries Commission’s rules. The Wildlife Resources Commission amended this rule in late 2021 to establish its own flounder season and limits as well as dozens of species-specific rules that went into effect March 2023.