2023 Flounder Season Set to Close in Louisiana Waters
Keith Lusher 10.03.23
With one year under its belt, the statewide closure of the harvest of Southern Flounder in Louisiana water enters its second year of enactment. The LDWF reminds anglers that the closed season will run from October 15 to November 30, 2023. During this time no flounder will be permitted to be harvested by any sector and it applies to 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 Exemptions that previously existed for southern flounder caught as bycatch on a shrimping trip are no longer applicable.
While no official harvest studies have been conducted since the first closure, judging by the reports from anglers, flounder numbers have improved since last year and look to progressively improve with the help of the new regulation.
According to the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, the 7-year plan, which is in its second year, is necessary to attempt to recover the stock of Southern Flounder, which is overfished based on results from the most recent flounder stock assessment.
While most anglers agree that there’s a definite problem when it comes to the flounder population, many aren’t so quick to go along with the department’s claimes that recreational fisherman are to blame. Chip Clement of Loranger LA, is one angler who doesn’t blame the problem on overfishing. “I don’t think it’s being overfished. I think the decline in flounder in southeast Louisiana is a direct result of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in 2010,” Clement said. “At the time of the oil spill I was catching 2 to 8 every trip, but after the spill, I couldn’t find a flounder anywhere and that was before the record spillway openings.”
The department claims that the annual closed season in the fall will allow for the mature female flounder to escape inshore waters and move offshore to spawn. The closed season is projected to create a 50% reduction in mature female Southern Flounder harvest. The closed season is an attempt to help the stock recover to a healthy biomass target by 2028.
