The summer flounder chronicles: Science, politics, and litigation, 1975-2000

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 fishery range from Massachusetts to North Carolina. Spawning takes place during a protracted season that can extend from September to March, during an annual offshore and southern migration to the outer continental shelf off Virginia and North Carolina. The fish are concentrated in bays and estuaries from late spring through early autumn, when the next offshore migration begins. The assessment and management of the summer flounder fishery has been very contentious since the implementation of the joint Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission/Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council Fishery Management Plan (FMP) in 1989, when the poor status of the summer flounder stock was evident to scientists, managers, and fishermen. Amendment 2 to the FMP, approved in 1992, implemented several major regulatory provisions including annual commercial quotas and recreational harvest limits, and annually adjustable minimum landed fish sizes, minimum mesh sizes, possession limits, and seasonal closures. By 1999, fishing mortality on summer flounder had declined to its lowest level since the 1960s, and summer flounder total stock biomass was the highest since the mid-1970s. Monitoring of stock status is ongoing to reliably determine "how much fish is enough" to provide for long-term sustainability. Many changes are made annually to management measures due to differing interpretations of stock status by managers, and fishery and environmental advocacy groups. Attainment of the annual fishing mortality targets remains elusive. The multiple layers of science, management, and politics in place since 1992 continue to spark much controversy and litigation that increasingly places the management of the summer flounder fishery in the hands of the courts.