The Flounder Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico, United States: A Regional Management Plan ..... .. ·. Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission October 2000 Number83 GULF STATES MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION Commissioners and Proxies Alabama Warren Triche Riley Boykin Smith Louisiana House of Representatives Alabama Department of Conservation & Natural 100 Tauzin Lane Resources Thibodaux, Louisiana 70301 64 North Union Street Montgomery, Alabama 36130-1901 Frederic L. Miller proxy: Vernon Minton P.O. Box 5098 Marine Resources Division Shreveport, Louisiana 71135-5098 P.O. Drawer 458 Gulf Shores, Alabama 36547 Mississippi Glenn H. Carpenter Walter Penry Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Alabama House of Representatives 1141 Bayview Avenue, Suite 101 12040 County Road 54 Biloxi, Mississippi 39530 Daphne, Alabama 36526 proxy: William S. “Corky” Perret Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Chris Nelson 1141 Bayview Avenue, Suite 101 Bon Secour Fisheries, Inc. Biloxi, Mississippi 39530 P.O. Box 60 Bon Secour, Alabama 36511 Billy Hewes Mississippi Senate Florida P.O. Box 2387 Allan L. Egbert Gulfport, Mississippi 39505 Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission 620 Meridian Street George Sekul Tallahassee, Florida 323299-1600 805 Beach Boulevard, #302 proxies: Ken Haddad, Director Biloxi, Mississippi 39530 Florida Marine Research Institute 100 Eighth Avenue SE Texas St. Petersburg, Florida 33701 Andrew Sansom Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Ms. Virginia Vail 4200 Smith School Road Division of Marine Resources Austin, Texas 78744 Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission proxies: Hal Osburn and Mike Ray 620 Meridian Street Texas Parks & Wildlife Department Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1600 4200 Smith School Road Austin, Texas 78744 William W. Ward 2221 Corrine Street J.E. “Buster” Brown Tampa, Florida 33605 Texas Senate P.O. Box 12068 Louisiana Austin, Texas 78711 James H. Jenkins, Jr. Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries L. Don Perkins P.O. Box 98000 1319 Winrock Boulevard Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70898-9000 Houston, Texas 77057 proxy: John Roussel Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries P.O. Box 98000 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70898-9000 THE FLOUNDER FISHERY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO, UNITED STATES: A REGIONAL MANAGEMENT PLAN by the Flounder Technical Task Force edited by Steven J. VanderKooy Interjurisdictional Fisheries Program Coordinator published by the GULF STATES MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION P.O. Box 726 Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39566-0726 Publication Number 83 October 2000 A publication of the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission pursuant to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Award Number NA56FI0085. This paper is funded by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of its subagencies. GULF STATES MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION Interjurisdictional Fisheries Management Program Flounder Technical Task Force Charles M. Adams Michael Johnson, Chairman Florida Sea Grant College Program National Marine Fisheries Service University of Florida Habitat Conservation Division P.O. Box 110240 11420 North Kendall Drive, Suite 103 Gainesville, Florida 32611 Miami, Florida 33176 (352) 392-4991 (305) 595-8352 Michael Brainard Dennis Johnston Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Texas Parks and Wildlife Department 1141 Bayview Avenue, Suite 101 4200 Smith School Road Biloxi, Mississippi 39530 Austin, Texas 78744 (228) 374-5000 (512) 389-4626 Pete Cooper, Jr. Dave Ruple Salt Water Sportsman The Nature Conservancy P.O. Box 172 P.O. Box 307 Buras, Louisiana 70041 Grand Bay, Alabama 36541 (504) 657-9498 (334) 865-5244 Stephen Hein Paul Seymour Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Seymour & Sons Seafood, Incorporated P.O. Box 189 3201 St. Charles Street Bourg, Louisiana 70343 D’Iberville, Mississippi 39532 (504) 594-4130 (228) 392-4020 Rebecca Hensley Mark Van Hoose Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Alabama Department of Conservation and Commission Natural Resources Florida Marine Research Institute Marine Resources Division Charlotte Harbor Field Laboratory P.O. Box 189 1481 Market Circle, Unit 1 Dauphin Island, Alabama 36528 Port Charlotte, Florida 33952 (334) 861-2882 (941) 255-7403 Staff Larry B. Simpson Executive Director Ronald R. Lukens Assistant Director Steven J. VanderKooy Cynthia B. Yocom IJF Program Coordinator IJF Staff Assistant ii Acknowledgments The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC) would like to thank the Flounder Technical Task Force (TTF) for their many hours of work and dedication in developing this flounder fishery management plan (FMP). During the compilation of this plan, we borrowed heavily from two sources in Sections 3 and 4; the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Southern Flounder Management Plan (Adkins et al. 1998) and Enge and Mulholland (1985). Additional material was borrowed from the GSMFC Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan (in preparation) relating to the sociologic characteristics of the recreational fishing sector and were provided by Dr. Bob Ditton (Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Texas A&M University). Special thanks are extended to Dr. Richard Leard and Mr. Jim Duffy who served as IJF Program Coordinators in 1995-1996 and 1997, respectively, for their efforts and written contributions to this document. Thanks are also extended to Jack King, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, who served on the task force as the law enforcement representative in 1996. Appreciation also goes to Dr. Cynthia Moncreiff, Dr. J. Holt, Lisa Engel, Mark Foster, and Kathy VanderKooy for their assistance in providing information and assistance in the review of the plan. The staff of the interjurisdictional fisheries program would also like to send a special thanks to Mrs. Lucia B. Hourihan for continuous support and superb editorial skills. iii Preface The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC) was established by the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Compact under Public Law 81-66 approved May 19, 1949. Its charge is to promote better management and utilization of marine resources in the Gulf of Mexico. The GSMFC is composed of three members from each of the five Gulf States. The head of the marine resource agency of each state is an ex officio member. The second is a member of the legislature. The third is a governor-appointed citizen with knowledge of or interest in marine fisheries. The offices of the chairman and vice chairmen are rotated annually from state to state. The GSMFC is empowered to recommend to the governor and legislature of the respective states action on programs helpful to the management of marine fisheries. The states, however, do not relinquish any of their rights or responsibilities to regulate their own fisheries as a result of being members of the GSMFC. One of the most important functions of the GSMFC is to serve as a forum for the discussion of various problems and needs of marine management authorities, the commercial and recreational industries, researchers, and others. The GSMFC also plays a key role in the implementation of the Interjurisdictional Fisheries (IJF) Act. Paramount to this role are the GSMFC’s activities to develop and maintain regional fishery management plans for important Gulf species. The gulf and southern flounder fishery management plan (FMP) is a cooperative planning effort of the five Gulf States under the IJF Act. Members of the task force contributed by drafting individually-assigned sections. In addition, each member contributed their expertise to discussions that resulted in revisions and led to the final draft of the plan. The GSMFC made all necessary arrangements for task force workshops. Under contract with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the GSMFC funded travel for state agency representatives and consultants other than federal employees. Throughout this document, metric equivalents are used wherever possible with the exceptions of reported landings data and size limits which, by convention, are reported in English units. A glossary of fisheries terms pertinent to this FMP is provided in the appendix (Section 14.1). Recreational landings in this document are Type A and B1 and actually represent total harvest, as designated by the NMFS. Type A catch is fish that are brought back to the dock in a form that can be identified by trained interviewers and type B1 catch is fish that are used for bait, released dead, or filleted – i.e., they are killed but identification is by individual anglers. Type B2 catch is fish that are released alive – again, identification is by individual anglers and are excluded from the values in this FMP. The state of Mississippi has indicated that the reported recreational landings for several near- shore, estuarine species in the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS) are under- represented due to a sampling anomaly which reports some fish caught in “state waters” as caught in the “exclusive economic zone.” The problem was addressed and corrected for the 2000 MRFSS data. iv Abbreviations and Symbols ADCNR/MRD Alabama Department of Conservation Natural Resources/Marine Resources Division BRD bycatch reduction device °C degrees Celsius DO dissolved oxygen DMS Data Management Subcommittee EEZ exclusive economic zone EFH essential fish habitat FWC/FMRI Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission/Florida Marine Research Institute FMP fishery management plan ft feet g gram GSI gonadal somatic
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