No action was taken, and a management options document will be presented to commissioners in a future meeting.
At their May online meeting Thursday, May 7, members of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission heard an update on Louisiana southern flounder fishery.
“This is just an update since we presented the results of the assessment for southern flounder to you in February,” said Jason Adriance, marine fisheries biologist with the LDWF.
“Flounder are one of four species where the legislature requires stock assessment reports,” he said.
According to the biologist, Louisiana’s flounder population did not meet the target in the 2020 stock assessment signaling required action by legislative regulations.
For specific information regarding problems in the recent flounder stock assessment, see a previous Louisiana Sportsman story: Dramatic decrease in flounder stocks observed by LDWF.
Adriance presented the %SPR (spawning potential ratio) numbers over the year to commission members demonstrating %SPR levels below target criteria.
Adriance also reported that the current flounder declines are not a regional overfishing issue, but has more to do with factors involving reproduction and recruitment.
“LDWF will put together a management options document for the Commission,” he said. “Options will likely focus more on how to recover the stock in light of reproductive and recruitment issues – not overfishing related issues,” Adriance said.
Adriance did not give any specific date as to when such options will be presented to the commission in the future.
