The annual closed season for the recreational and commercial harvest of Southern Flounder, from Oct. 15 through Nov. 30 of each year, is approaching. This statewide closure for Southern Flounder is for all sectors and all gear types, including any flounder caught as bycatch in any other fishery. Exemptions that previously existed for southern flounder caught as bycatch on a shrimping trip are no longer applicable. The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission (LWFC) was granted the authority by the Legislature to modify the shrimping bycatch exemption if the flounder stock is overfished and/or undergoing overfishing.
