The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries is accepting public comment on the Draft Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan Amendment 1.
Comments may be given in writing and at any of three advisory committee meetings scheduled for October:
| Northern Regional Advisory Committee Oct. 8 at 6 p.m. Department of Environmental Quality Washington Regional Office 943 Washington Square Mall, Highway 17 Washington, NC 27889 | Southern Regional Advisory Committee Oct. 9 at 6 p.m. Department of Environmental Quality Wilmington Regional Office 127 Cardinal Drive Extension Wilmington, NC 28405 |
| Finfish Advisory Committee Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office 5285 Highway 70 West Morehead City, NC 28557 | |
Written comments may be submitted through an online survey or through mail to Draft Spotted Seatrout FMP Amendment 1 Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557. Comments must be received by the Division of Marine Fisheries by 5 p.m. on Oct. 16, 2024.
The Draft Spotted Seatrout Amendment includes options for management to end overfishing or otherwise benefit the spotted seatrout stock, such as size limit changes, season closures, changes to bag limits and trips limits, stop net management, adaptive management strategies, vessel limits, effort controls, various gear requirements, commercial hook-and-line harvest, and cold stun management.
The Division of Marine Fisheries’ preliminary recommendations, which are subject to change following public comment and advisory committee review, are:
- A January through February statewide harvest closure for the commercial and recreational sectors.
- A 14- to 20-inch recreational slot limit with an allowance for one fish greater than 26 inches.
- A three-fish recreational bag limit.
- No change to the commercial size limit.
- A statewide October through December extended weekend commercial harvest closure from 11:59 p.m. Friday to 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
- No change in the quota for the Bogue Banks stop net fishery, but to formalize management of the fishery in Amendment 1.
- An adaptive management framework.
- Eliminating the for-hire captain and crew allowance.
- Extending the fishery closure through June 30 following a cold stun.
Further management is needed because the 2022 Spotted Seatrout Stock Assessment found that while the stock is not overfished, overfishing is occurring. This means the population is currently large enough to sustain itself, but fishing is removing fish from the population at an unsustainable rate.