The summer flounder chronicles III: struggling with success, 2011–2016

The summer flounder or fluke, Paralichthys dentatus , supports the most important commercial and recreational flatfish fisheries of the U.S. Atlantic coast. The stock and fisheries range from Massachusetts to North Carolina. The assessment and management of the summer flounder has been contentious since 1989, when a joint Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission/Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Fishery Management Plan was implemented. Two previous papers recounted how fishing mortality on the summer flounder stock had decreased by 2010 to its lowest level in over 30 years, with stock biomass at its highest since the stock assessments began in the 1960s. Since 2010, the most important issues and controversies for summer flounder have included: (a) debate over the nature and causes of the observed changes in the spatial distribution of summer flounder and potential impacts for science and management, (b) the re-emergence of retrospective error in the assessment modeling results affecting the evaluation of stock status and the reliability of catch forecasts, (c) scientific and political debate over the necessity of including sex structure in the summer flounder assessment, and (d) the ongoing changes in the ‘tools’ used for catch regulation and allocation that attempt to effectively control fishing mortality while accounting for changes in spatial distribution. This work chronicles how summer flounder serves as a case study of the increasing ‘politicalization’ of fishery science and management, as the actions for summer flounder taken in response to the media commentary and ensuing political pressure have influenced U.S. national fisheries science, management strategy, and law.