MFC Pamlico Sound net closing

[NCangler]

MOREHEAD CITY – Waters in Pamlico Sound will close Thursday to the use of commercial large-mesh gill nets. The intent of the closure is to protect threatened and endangered sea turtles.

The number of green sea turtles caught in flounder nets this season is nearing the maximum number allowed by a special permit from the National Marine Fisheries Service. Biologists anticipate that number will exceed the threshold by the end of the week.

North Carolina manages the large-mesh gill net fishery in Pamlico Sound under a federal permit authorized by Section 10 of the Endangered Species Act, which went into effect after numerous sea turtle strandings in Pamlico Sound in 1999 and 2000. Investigations identified the deep-water, large-mesh gill net fishery for southern flounder as the primary source for the sea turtle interactions and subsequent mortalities.

The permit authorizes a limited shallow water fishery along the Outer Banks and mainland side of Pamlico Sound and mandates observer coverage and weekly reporting. The permit also requires a season closure when the number of sea turtle captures reaches pre-set thresholds established by NMFS.

So far this season, observers have documented large-mesh gill net interactions with 13 live and five dead green turtles. Scientists used the documented interactions to estimate there have been 119 live takes and 30 lethal takes of green sea turtles. The Section 10 Permit requires closure of the fishery when the estimated takes reach 120 live or 48 dead green sea turtles.

Observers also documented a gill net interaction with one live loggerhead sea turtle, but the takes of loggerheads is not nearing the permit threshold for that species.

The closure starts at 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15 and will prohibit the use of gill nets with larger than 4 ¼-inch stretched mesh. It will remain in effect until Dec. 15, which for practical purposes is the rest of the 2007 Southern flounder season. The fall Southern flounder shallow water fishery will reopen September 1, 2008.

The closure does not prohibit the use of small mesh gill nets (smaller than or equal to 4 ¼-inch stretched mesh), and observations of the small mesh fishery will continue.

For more information on the flounder gill net closure, contact DMF Biologist Blake Price at (252) 726-7021 or at (800) 682-2632.