MOREHEAD CITY – The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday afternoon has been postponed, and the chairman has called a special meeting later this month.
According to a news release from the Division of Marine Fisheries, Commission Chairman Rob Bizzell contacted commission members Thursday morning to share his decision to revisit the flounder allocation decision made during the commission’s meeting in February.
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Bizzell called a special meeting to be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 31, via webinar to revisit the allocation issue. Links and other information on the March 31 meeting to reconsider southern flounder allocation are to be announced later.
The meeting set for Thursday had been scheduled for the commission to review and vote on sending the draft Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 for public and advisory committee review. The review and vote is now to be rescheduled during or after the March 31 meeting.
During its meeting in February , the commission selected sector harvest allocations of 70% commercial and 30% recreational for the upcoming Amendment 3 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan.
Among other management measures, Amendment 3 proposes quotas for the commercial and recreational southern flounder fisheries. The 70% commercial/30% recreational split is similar to the landings split in 2017, the terminal year of the stock assessment.
Other sector harvest allocations the commission considered included commercial/recreational splits of 70/30, 65/35, 60/30 with a 10% allotment for gigging, 60/40, and 50/50.
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