October 17th, 2016 — A court injunction has stopped a planned closure of North Carolina’s flounder season that was set to begin this weekend.
The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries announced this week that the state will not close the flounder season on Oct. 16 as was planned due to a temporary injunction issued putting several new regulations for the southern flounder fishery on hold.
The season remains open for commercial and recreational fishermen.
The recreational hook-and-line and gig fisheries continue with the current 15-inch minimum size limit and six-fish bag limit.
The season also remains open for the anchored, large-mesh gill net fisheries but the December commercial closure for the flounder season will still take place as in previous years, the division said.
The halt to the season closure is the result of legal action taken by representatives of the commercial fishing industry over last year’s action by the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission.
The North Carolina Fisheries Association, a New Bern-based trade association representing commercial fishermen, announced that commercial fishermen have joined with several coastal counties in filing a legal complaint against the state over the process used in adopting new regulations for the southern flounder fishery.