Since the 1980’s commercial fishers in North Carolina, especially in Cedar Island, have created temporary holding ponds for wild caught estuarine southern flounder (Paralichthys lethostigma) taken commercially. The goal of these holding ponds, according to local fishers, was originally to hold flounder through the price dips due to flooding of the local market. The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) was aware of some of these operations in the 1990’s and added a LIVE option on Trip Tickets to enable pond operations that had broken into live flounder markets. These operations were all but forgotten by the time regulations were put in place governing coastal aquaculture operations because of employee retirement and turnover.
In 2022, the DMF was made aware of ponds that still existed in the Cedar Island area and needed to be permitted. The DMF’s Aquaculture Program coordinated with multiple internal sections and external agencies to develop a method to permit these operations while accounting for several unique risks that are either less concerning, or not present in land-based finfish aquaculture. In doing so, the Aquaculture Program also managed to discover and address a gap between fish dealers and food safety for seafood processors.
As a result, two operations were able to receive a permit for culturing wild-harvest estuarine flounder caught commercially by pound nets (8,000 lbs. and 11,000 lbs., respectively) . The unique collaboration between DMF and external agencies may provide a framework for similar challenges in other states, especially as the aquaculture industry develops and grows.