For Release: September 18, 1998

Contact: Richard Sisson 222-3075 or 789-3094

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management's Division of Fish and Wildlife has announced that effective at 8 p.m. Monday, September 21, commercial harvest and sale of summer flounder within Rhode Island is terminated because the summer quota of 697,000 pounds has been harvested.

To help rebuild the summer flounder population along the Atlantic coast, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce allocated to Rhode Island a quota of 1,742,000 pounds for 1998, managed by DEM through establishing seasonal allocations and possession limits. Since January DEM has regularly adjusted the possession limit to keep pace with landings in an attempt to keep the seasons open as long as possible for the benefit of both commercial fishermen and the fish-buying public.

The fishery's fall season will open on November 1, with a possession limit of 100 pounds per day.

Richard Sisson, Deputy Chief of Marine Fisheries for DEM's Division of Fish and Wildlife, noted that stocks of summer flounder along the Atlantic coast are showing signs of recovery from low levels. "Commercial quotas and possession limits," he said, "are two components of the fish stock rebuilding process."

The closure does not affect recreational fishermen. They are allowed to possess eight summer flounder that are at least 15 inches in length.