PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management has announced two changes in the commercial fishing possession limit for summer flounder and scup.

Beginning Wednesday, December 29, commercial fishermen will be allowed to possess 1,000 pounds of summer flounder, or fluke, at any given time. This change in the Rhode Island Marine Fisheries regulations gives commercial fishermen a 600-pound increase over the previously imposed 400-pound possession limit for summer flounder. It is a direct result of weekly landings, which have been lower than anticipated, and will allow Rhode Island to fully utilize its 1,740,000-pound quota for the year and maximize the economic return to the fishing industry.

However, the possession limit for scup will decrease from 12,000 to 10,000 pounds beginning January 1, as the result of regulatory actions taken by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The reduction was requested by the fishing industry to allow the January through April quota period to remain open longer. The possession limit will be reduced to 1,000 pounds when 85 percent of the coastal quota has been landed.