Commercial and recreational fishermen are calling for healthy fisheries, fair access, transparent data, and accountable management that protects North Carolina’s coastal communities and fishing heritage.

Why This Petition Matters
For more than 40 years, I have fished North Carolina’s waters both commercially and recreationally. During that time, I have never seen our fisheries face challenges as serious as those confronting us today.

These problems affect everyone who depends on our coastal waters—from commercial fishermen and charter captains to recreational anglers, fishing families, seafood businesses, and coastal communities. When seasons are closed without adequate notice, decisions are based on outdated or disputed information, or management lacks transparency, the consequences reach far beyond the water. Families lose income, businesses suffer, tourism declines, and North Carolina’s fishing heritage is placed at risk.

The Southern Flounder fishery is a clear example. This historic fishery is important to commercial and recreational fishermen alike, yet current management has placed severe limits on when and how people can participate.

North Carolina’s marine resources are held in the public trust. They must be managed fairly, transparently, and sustainably for everyone—not only for one sector, one organization, or one political interest. Commercial and recreational fishermen may use different methods, but we share common goals: healthy fish populations, responsible conservation, fair access, reliable data, and a future for North Carolina’s coastal communities.

The Problem with a Two-Week Season
A two-week flounder season may reduce the number of legal fishing days, but it can also concentrate fishing effort into a short and stressful period. Commercial and recreational fishermen are pushed onto the water at the same time, increasing competition for access and creating additional safety concerns. Fishermen may feel pressured to work longer hours, travel farther, or fish in less favorable weather because missing several days can mean losing most of the year’s opportunity.

This type of compressed season can create a derby-style fishery. Instead of allowing fishermen to spread their effort over a reasonable period, it encourages people to catch what they can before the season closes. That makes it harder to plan crews, equipment, bait, fuel, trips, and income. It also creates challenges for seafood dealers, charter businesses, marinas, bait shops, restaurants, and other coastal businesses that depend on predictable fishing activity.

Commercial and Recreational Harvest Comparison
North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries data show substantial reductions in both commercial and recreational Southern Flounder harvest since 2017. Commercial landings declined from approximately 1.40 million pounds in 2017 to 375,963 pounds in 2023, a decrease of about 73%. Estimated recreational landings declined from approximately 451,126 pounds in 2017 to 192,168 pounds in 2023, a decrease of about 57%.

Year
Commercial landings
Estimated recreational landings
Combined reported landings*
2017
1,396,384 lb
451,126 lb
1,847,510 lb
2018
903,842 lb
495,289 lb
1,399,131 lb
2019*
800,080 lb*
387,203 lb
1,187,283 lb
2020
479,905 lb
398,769 lb
878,674 lb
2021
485,024 lb*
560,440 lb*
1,045,464 lb
2022
366,510 lb
173,973 lb
540,483 lb
2023
375,963 lb
192,168 lb
568,131 lb
2024**
Not shown in the same historical table
9,446 lb
Not directly comparable
\*The combined column simply adds commercial landings and estimated recreational landings. It should not be treated as an official stock-assessment estimate because the two sectors are measured differently.

\**The 2024 recreational estimate reflects a highly restricted recreational fishery and is not directly comparable to earlier years without accounting for the different season and management measures.

Harvest Comparison: 2017 Versus 2023

 Southern Flounder landed pounds Scale: each █ represents approximately 50,000 pounds
2017 Commercial       1,396,384 lb | ████████████████████████████2023 Commercial         375,963 lb | ████████
2017 Recreational       451,126 lb | █████████2023 Recreational       192,168 lb | ████

The decline is especially significant in the commercial fishery. Commercial Southern Flounder landings fell by approximately 1.02 million pounds between 2017 and 2023. During the same period, estimated recreational landings fell by approximately 259,000 pounds. Together, those figures represent an approximate decline of 1.28 million pounds in reported landings, although the estimates should not be interpreted as a precise measure of population change.

The decline in commercial harvest also had major economic consequences. Commercial Southern Flounder ex-vessel value fell from approximately $7.04 million in 2017 to $837,570 in 2023—a decrease of roughly 88%. Estimated total sales impacts associated with the fishery fell from approximately $42.0 million in 2017 to $3.7 million in 2023. Commercial participation declined from 1,759 participants in 2014 to 492 in 2023.

The recreational sector also experienced a major decline in participation. Estimated recreational flounder trips fell from approximately 1.7 million trips in 2015 to 414,000 trips in 2023. Estimated recreational trip expenditures fell from approximately $446 million to $107 million over the same period. These figures include expenditures such as fuel, bait, ice, food, beverages, and other trip-related purchases.

These trends show that both sectors have experienced sharply reduced access and economic opportunity. They also show why management decisions should not be evaluated solely by counting legal fishing days or landed pounds. Managers must consider participation, fishing effort, dead discards, bycatch, safety, business impacts, and the economic importance of keeping both commercial and recreational fisheries viable.

Discards and Bycatch Must Be Fully Counted
Landed pounds do not represent all fishing-related removals. Some fish are released but later die. NCDMF has used a recreational discard-mortality estimate of approximately 9% for the recreational hook-and-line Southern Flounder fishery.

NCDMF management materials have also included an estimated 15,682-pound dead-discard allowance, including recreational catch-and-release mortality and commercial-gear bycatch. However, the public should be provided with the underlying commercial bycatch data, methodology, gear-specific estimates, observer coverage, and uncertainty ranges.

The state should not combine commercial and recreational discard estimates without clearly explaining how each figure was calculated. Commercial and recreational fishermen deserve complete, transparent accounting of:

Fish landed
Fish released alive
Estimated dead discards
Commercial bycatch by gear type
Fishing effort and participation
Observer coverage and sampling limitations
Enforcement actions and outcomes
A two-week season does not replace accurate stock assessments, habitat protection, bycatch reduction, effective monitoring, or accountable management. North Carolina should evaluate whether a longer but carefully controlled season—with science-based limits, reliable monitoring, effective enforcement, and clear accountability—could better distribute fishing effort while protecting the resource.

Management should be judged by measurable outcomes:

A rebuilding Southern Flounder population
Reduced dead discards
Reliable and publicly understandable data
Fair access for commercial and recreational fishermen
Safer and more predictable fishing opportunities
Transparent accounting of economic impacts
Effective enforcement applied consistently across sectors

What We Are Demanding

1. A More Coordinated Fisheries Management System
Evaluate merging the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission—or establish another unified management structure that eliminates unnecessary bureaucratic divisions, improves coordination, and applies consistent, science-based standards to North Carolina’s aquatic resources.

Any restructuring must preserve specialized marine-fisheries expertise and include meaningful representation from both commercial and recreational fishermen.

2. Modern, Transparent Data Collection
Replace outdated, delayed, or poorly understood data-collection methods with timely, accurate, and independently verifiable information.

The state should publish, in a clear and accessible format:

Commercial and recreational landings
Fishing effort and participation
Dead discards and estimated discard mortality
Bycatch by species and gear type
Stock-assessment assumptions and uncertainty
Allocation calculations
Dealer prices and dockside value
Enforcement actions and outcomes
Commercial and recreational fishermen should have meaningful opportunities to review the data, identify gaps, contribute local knowledge, and respond before major restrictions or closures are adopted.

3. Complete Accounting for Discards and Bycatch
NCDMF should establish a transparent program to measure and publish commercial and recreational discards, including dead discards and bycatch mortality.

For commercial fisheries, reports should identify:

Gear type
Target fishery
Fishing area
Number and weight of Southern Flounder caught
Number released alive
Estimated dead discards
Other species caught incidentally
Observer coverage
Sampling limitations and uncertainty
Until reliable commercial discard information is available, management decisions should clearly disclose what is known, what is estimated, and what remains uncertain.

4. Balanced and Accountable Oversight
Create an independent oversight body with balanced representation from:

Commercial fishing stakeholders
Recreational fishing stakeholders
Independent fisheries scientists and other qualified experts
Members should serve fixed terms, follow clear conflict-of-interest rules, disclose relevant financial or organizational ties, and be accountable to the public. No single sector should control decisions affecting everyone who relies on North Carolina’s waters.

5. Evidence-Based Leadership
Require fisheries leadership to publicly explain how management decisions reflect legislative studies, independent scientific reviews, rebuilding plans, habitat assessments, economic information, and public input.

Any departure from established scientific or legislative recommendations should be clearly justified, supported by evidence, and subject to public review. North Carolina needs leadership that is accountable, consistent, and willing to listen to the people most directly affected by fisheries policy.

6. Fair, Predictable, and Safe Fishing Opportunities
The state should evaluate alternatives to an extremely compressed two-week season. Any alternative should be based on reliable stock data and include appropriate size limits, possession limits, gear requirements, monitoring, and enforcement.

The goal should be to reduce biological impacts while also avoiding unnecessary concentration of fishing effort, unsafe pressure on fishermen, unpredictable business conditions, and unfair barriers to participation.

7. Protect North Carolina’s Fishing Heritage and Coastal Economy
Fisheries policy should be developed in the public interest and should not be driven by undisclosed political pressure or special interests that do not adequately represent North Carolina’s fishing communities.

Our marine resources should be managed with input from the people who live, work, fish, and operate businesses along the coast. Conservation and access should not be treated as opposing goals. With reliable data, responsible limits, habitat protection, effective enforcement, and accountability, North Carolina can protect fish populations while preserving opportunities for both commercial and recreational fishermen.

Our Shared Future
North Carolina’s marine heritage belongs to all of us—from traditional flounder giggers and working commercial fleets to charter captains, pier fishermen, and families enjoying a day on the water.

We may not agree on every issue, but we can unite around the need for healthy fisheries, fair access, transparent decision-making, accurate data, and accountable management.

The future of North Carolina fishing should not be decided behind closed doors or through policies based on information that stakeholders cannot evaluate. It should be shaped through sound science, public participation, local knowledge, and respect for the people whose livelihoods and traditions depend on our coastal waters.

Sign this petition to support transparent fisheries management, protect North Carolina’s fishing heritage, and demand a fairer and more accountable future for commercial and recreational fishermen alike.

Petitioners’ request: We respectfully ask North Carolina’s governor, legislators, fisheries officials, and oversight bodies to review these concerns, publish complete sector-specific harvest and discard data, and pursue reforms that protect the Southern Flounder resource while preserving fair and sustainable opportunities for both commercial and recreational fishermen.