The commercial flounder season will close at 6:00 p.m. on Oct. 6 in the Pound Net Northern Management Area. Flounder pound net sets must be rendered inoperable by 6:00 p.m. on Oct. 7 in the management area during the closed flounder season.

The commercial flounder season for pound nets in the Northern Management Area is closing because the quota is nearly caught. The Pound Net Northern Management Area includes Albemarle Sound and its tributaries.

The Division of Marine Fisheries will evaluate landings once all daily dealer reports are submitted. If the division determines quota is available for additional harvest days further proclamations will be issued.

As previously announced, pound net harvest in the Pound Net Central Management Area will be limited to 2,000 pounds per day beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Oct. 7. The Pound Net Central Management Area includes Pamlico Sound and its tributaries. The trip limit is needed to ensure this fishery does not exceed its harvest quota.

Pound net harvest in the Pound Net Southern Management Area will close on Oct. 6 at 6:00 p.m. and flounder pound nets must be rendered inoperable in the management area during the closed flounder season by the harvest closure. The Southern Management Area encompasses Core Sound to the South Carolina line.

Gigs and hook-and-line in the Northern and Southern Management Areas reopen at 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9 with a 50-fish per person per day trip limit. The harvest season will close when the Total Allowable Landings for this sector is approached, or at 6 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 13, whichever occurs first. The Northern Management Area includes the upper portion of Core Sound and waters north to the Virginia State line. The Southern Management Area encompasses the lower portion of Core Sound and waters south to the South Carolina state line.

For more specifics on the commercial flounder season for internal coastal waters, see Proclamation FF-50-2022.

The recreational flounder season closed Sept. 30.

North Carolina’s southern flounder fisheries are managed under the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3. For more information on the management measures, see the Southern Flounder Information Page under Hot Topics.