THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, May 5, 1995                    TAG: 9505050556
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   53 lines

FLOUNDER FISHERY TO CLOSE, IN HOPES OF OPENING LATER

North Carolina's ocean flounder fishery - the state's most valuable finfish catch - will come to a halt Sunday when the state prohibits the landing of all flounder caught in the Atlantic with commercial gear.

``I am closing the ports to flounder landings in order to use our quota to the maximum benefit of the commercial industry in North Carolina,'' state fisheries Director Bruce L. Freeman announced Thursday.

By halting the ocean flounder fishing now, the state will probably have enough of its quota left to allow commercial fishermen to land ocean flounder in November and December, traditionally valuable months for the fishery in North Carolina, Freeman said.

``We have already used 80 percent of the 1995 allotment, and our primary flounder season is the fall,'' Freeman said in a news release announcing the closure.

The state's top fisheries official has asked the state attorney general's office for guidance as to what steps the commission can take to restrict commercial flounder fishing in the Atlantic if the season is re-opened in the fall.

Robert V. Lucas, chairman of the Marine Fisheries Commission, said Thursday that an opinion by the attorney general's office on the extent of the commission's powers to regulate the industry should be available ``in a matter of a few days.''

Flounder fishermen have said closing the season is just the first step to protecting the state's flounder catch.

They plan to ask the state Marine Fisheries Commission in Greenville later this month for additional restrictions on flounder fishermen to protect the state's fall flounder fishery from large numbers of non-North Carolina boats closed out of northern fishing grounds and industries.

Joey Daniels, a member of the Marine Fisheries Commission and a Wanchese seafood dealer, said he will ask his fellow commissioners to place limits on a commercial fisherman's eligibility to land flounder in North Carolina. He said that limit could be tied to increases in the annual commercial quota for flounder.

Freeman decided to halt state flounder landings after meeting Monday night with Daniels and other commercial flounder fishermen.

In the past, North Carolina had a surplus of its flounder quota, but that situation changed this year as greater numbers of fishermen - closed out of traditional fishing grounds and industries to the north - have come to North Carolina to land their founder catch, Freeman said.

KEYWORDS: COMMERCIAL FISHING INDUSTRY by CNB