Since 1992, all vessels fishing for summer flounder with bottom trawls off Virginia and North Carolina have been required to use NOAA Fisheries–approved turtle excluder devices (TEDs) in their nets.
The commercial catch limit is further distributed among the states based on their share of commercial landings during the 1980s.They allocate 60 percent of the annual catch limit to the commercial fishery and 40 percent to the recreational fishery.Using scientific data on the summer flounder resource and fishery, managers determine how much summer flounder can be harvested the following year.Managed under the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan:.NOAA Fisheries, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission cooperatively manage the summer flounder fishery because significant catch of these species comes from both state waters (0-3 nautical miles offshore) and federal waters (3-200 nautical miles offshore).Large sharks, rays, and monkfish prey on adult summer flounder. Predators include spiny dogfish, monkfish, cod, hakes, sea raven, longhorn sculpin, and fourspot flounder. Larval and juvenile summer flounder are preyed upon until they grow large enough to fend for themselves.When suitable prey appears, flounder ambush them. Summer flounder lay on the ocean floor concealed, partly by sand and partly by their coloration, and wait for their prey to swim by.Adults are opportunistic feeders, eating whatever food is convenient at the time, and feed mostly on fish and crustaceans.Larval and post-larval flounder feed on zooplankton (tiny floating animals) and small crustaceans.Summer flounder eat a mixed diet of fish and invertebrates throughout their life.Newly hatched larvae move with the currents toward coastal areas, where they develop into juveniles.They release the eggs into the water column and the eggs hatch in waters of the continental shelf. Depending on their size, females have between 460,000 and more than 4 million eggs.The combination of these elements improves the chance of survival for larval summer flounder.
Spawning peaks in October and November when water temperatures change and autumn plankton is most productive.They spawn several times throughout the spawning season.Summer flounder spawn in the fall and early winter when they migrate offshore.They are able to reproduce when they reach age 2 or 3.Males grow to more than 2 feet in length and females grow up to 3 feet.Summer flounder grow fast and have a relatively short life, about 12 to 14 years.Alert anglers, wading the sandy flats, will recognize the depressions in the sand made by flounder (referred to as beds) as a sign that the area is home to a good flounder population. They tend to stay in the deeper drop offs and ledges during the day and will move up on to sandy flats and feed prolifically at night. The most active feeding time for flounder are the three days before a new moon and the three days following a first quarter moon. Instead they seem to just eat more small fish. Unlike other predator fish in the bay system, flounder don’t seem to eat larger fish as they grow larger. During those studies, about 1/3 of the flounder had shrimp in their digestive systems with the bulk of the flounder eating small fish.
Studies have shown that the primary food source for adult flounder however are small fish such as menhaden, anchovies, pinfish, grunts, pigfish, croakers, and mullet. As they grow larger, their primary diet becomes shrimp and small fish.ĭuring the spring, flounder are the primary predator for shrimp in the Coastal Bend bay system. As juveniles, flounder eat annelid worms known as polychaetes, small crustacean and small fish.
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