Yellowtail Flounder (Limanda ferruginea)

• Population levels of yellowtail flounder are low, and overfishing is occurring.
• Yellowtail flounder are managed through a series of measures to allow the stocks to rebuild to and remain at sustainable levels.
• Flounder is a good, low-fat source of B vitamins and an excellent source of niacin. For more on nutrition, see Nutrition Facts. (USDA)
• Yellowtail flounder have been identified as a good candidate for aquaculture because they grow quickly and have high market value.

Sustainability Status

Biomass: The biomass of Georges Bank yellowtail flounder is 22 % of the biomass needed to support maximum sustainable yield (B_MSY). Southern New England/Middle Atlantic biomass is 13% of B_MSY. Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine biomass is 25% of B_MSY. According to the most recent scientific stock assessment there have been large relative increases in biomass for the Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic yellowtail flounder stock, the Cape Cod /Gulf of Maine yellowtail flounder stock. However, since the last assessment (2004), biomass for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder has not changed much.
Overfishing: Yes
Overfished: Yes
Fishing and habitat: Otter trawls are mainly used to catch yellowtail over sandy bottoms. Otter trawls can have a negative impact on benthic habitat, the severity of which depends on the type of particular habitat (e.g., sandy, rocky, stable, subject to frequent natural disturbance, etc). Some yellowtail are also caught in gillnets.
Bycatch: Low levels of undersized yellowtail and other groundfish species are taken in yellowtail flounder fisheries.
Aquaculture: There is currently no commercial aquaculture of yellowtail flounder in the United States. However, they have been identified as a candidate species for aquaculture as they are fast growing and have high market value.

Science and Management

U.S. fisheries for yellowtail flounder are managed under the New England Fishery Management Council's Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The goal of the FMP is to reduce fishing mortality to allow stocks to rebuild above minimum biomass thresholds and, attain and remain at or near target biomass levels. Yellowtail flounder is divided into three stocks for management purposes: Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and Southern New England/ Mid-Atlantic. These stocks are managed by time/area closures, gear restrictions, minimum size limits, and, since 1994, direct effort controls including a moratorium on permits and days-at-sea restrictions.

The Georges Bank stock occurs in both U.S. and Canadian waters. An informal quota sharing agreement was implemented in 2004 between the two countries to share the harvest of yellowtail flounder in this area. The agreement includes total allowable catch quotas for each country as well as in-season monitoring of the U.S. catch of yellowtail flounder on Georges Bank.

Since 2003, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service Northeast Fisheries Science Center and commercial fishermen have worked together to tag and release yellowtail flounder throughout New England. The location, date, and various information is recorded upon the release of the tagged fish, and the same information is recorded when the fish is recaptured by fishermen or other reporters. Stock movements, mortality, and growth can be estimated from this information, leading to more accurate biological and stock assessments.

Life History and Habitat

Life history, including information on the habitat, growth, feeding, and reproduction of a species, is important because it affects how a fishery is managed.

• Geographic range: In waters along the Atlantic coast of North America from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Labrador, and Newfoundland to the Chesapeake Bay.
• Habitat: Yellowtail flounder live in waters between 130 and 230 feet deep on sandy bottoms.
• Life span: Yellowtail can live up to 17 years, but yellowtail older than 7 years are uncommon.
• Food: Adult yellowtail feed on crustaceans, amphipods, and polychaete worms, while juveniles eat mostly polychaete worms.
• Growth rate: Yellowtail flounder grow faster than most other flatfish. Female yellowtail grow faster than males.
• Maximum size: Up to 22 inches total length and 2.2 pounds in weight.
• Reaches reproductive maturity: Yellowtail flounder mature earlier than most flatfish. Half of females are mature at age 2 and almost all females mature at age 3. Yellowtail flounder in the Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine stock are slightly less mature at ages 2 and 3 than the other two stocks, but all are fully mature by age 4.
• Reproduction: Eggs are deposited on or near the bottom and after fertilization, float to the surface. Larvae drift for approximately two months then change form and settle to the bottom.
• Spawning season: During spring and summer, peaking in May.
• Spawning grounds: On or near the ocean floor.
• Migrations: Yellowtail flounder have been described as relatively sedentary, but there is evidence of off bottom movements, limited seasonal movements, and transboundary movements.
• Predators: Yellowtail flounder are preyed on by spiny dogfish, winter skate, Atlantic cod, Atlantic halibut, fourspot flounder, monkfish, little skate, smooth skate, silver hake, bluefish, and sea raven.
• Commercial or recreational interest: Commercial
• Distinguishing characteristics: Yellowtail is a thin-bodied, right-eyed flounder. They have a small mouth and a highly arched lateral line.

Role in the Ecosystem

Additional Information

Market name: Flounder
Vernacular names: Rusty Dab, Sand Dab

Biomass

Biomass refers to the amount of yellowtail flounder in the ocean. Scientists cannot collect and weigh every single fish to determine biomass, so they use models to estimate it instead. These biomass estimates can help determine if a stock is being fished too heavily or if it may be able to tolerate more fishing pressure. Managers can then make appropriate changes in the regulations of the fishery.

Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine biomass has generally increased since the mid 1980s. Specifically, spawning biomass was 700 metric tons in 1985 and spiked up to 2,600 metric tons in 1990. Spawning biomass increased from 1,000 metric tons in 1993 to 1,800 metric tons in 2002, dipped to 800 metric tons in 2005, and was 1,900 metric tons in 2007.

In Georges Bank, total biomass declined through the late 1970s into the early 1990s but increased in the mid and late 1990s. Biomass increased until the early 2000s, declined, and is now increasing again. Spawning stock biomass of yellowtail flounder increased from a low of 2,800 metric tons in 1994 to an average of 10,000 metric tons from 2000 to 2003. Spawning biomass then declined to 4,200 metric tons in 2005 and increased to 9,500 metric tons in 2007.

Spawning biomass for the Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic stock was high in the early 1970s but decreased in the late 1970s. Estimates increased briefly in the early and late 1980s but declined in the early 1990s and have since remained low. Spawning stock biomass averaged 1,100 metric tons from 1994 to 2005 and increased to 3,500 metric tons in 2007.

Note: Spawning biomass is shown in the graphs. Spawning biomass is the amount of yellowtail flounder in the population that can reproduce.

Landings

Landings refer to the amount of catch that is brought to land. Historically, landings from the Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine stock made up only a small portion of total U.S. yellowtail landings. However, when the Georges Bank and Southern New England stocks collapsed in the early 1990s, landings from the Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine stock accounted for the majority of the U.S. yellowtail harvest. Annual landings from the stock increased from less than 1,000 metric tons in the mid 1930s to a peak of 5,600 metric tons in 1980. Landings decreased to approximately 1,200 metric tons annually in the late 1980s, but increased to 3,200 metric tons in 1990 due to a strong year class in the late 1980s. Landings declined to 800 metric tons in 1993 and remained low through the rest of the 1990s. Landings increased to greater than 2,400 metric tons in 2000 and 2001 but declined to 500 metric tons in 2007.

Trawlers began exploiting the Georges Bank stock in the mid-1930s. Landings increased from 300 metric tons in 1935 to 7,400 metric tons in 1949, then decreased in the early 1950s to 1,700 metric tons in 1956, and increased again in the late 1950s. The highest landings occurred from 1963 to 1976, averaging over 14,000 metric tons annually. (These include modest landings by foreign fleets, but no catches of yellowtail have occurred by countries other than the U.S. and Canada since 1975.) In 1985, the stock became a transboundary resource under both Canadian and U.S. jurisdictions. Combined U.S. and Canadian landings averaged about 2,500 metric tons between 1985 and 1994, and then dropped to a record low of 800 metric tons in 1995 when fishing effort was drastically reduced to allow the stock to rebuild. The U.S. fishery has been constrained by closed areas and a year-round closure, as well as by gear regulations and limits on days fished. In 2004, a Yellowtail Special Access Program (SAP) in Closed Area II allowed a U.S. bottom trawl fishery in the area for the first time since 1995 generating landings of 5,800 metric tons, the highest U.S. harvest since 1983. The SAP did not continue in 2005. Combined U.S. and Canadian landings have since declined to 1,100 metric tons in 2007.

A fishery for yellowtail flounder developed off Southern New England in the 1930s, coincident with the increased use of otter trawls, a decline in winter flounder abundance, and demand for food products during World War II. Landings increased during the 1930s and early 1940s and the fishery expanded to the Mid-Atlantic in the early 1940s. Landings peaked at 28,400 metric tons in 1942. Annual landings averaged about 10,000 metric tons from 1944 to 1948. A domestic industrial fishery developed in the late 1940s, but landings decreased to less than 2,000 metric tons in the mid 1950s. Landings increased again in the late 1950s and 1960s. A distant water fishery developed in the late 1960s and total annual landings exceeded 20,000 metric tons between 1963 and 1970. The distant water fisheries were eliminated in the early 1970s, and landings generally decreased. Landings in 1995 reached a record low of 200 metric tons. Landings increased to greater than 1,000 metric tons per year in 2000 and 2001 but declined to 200 metric tons in 2006 and 2007.

Note: U.S. commercial landings are shown in the graph.

Biomass and Landings

Are landings and biomass related? Landings are dependent on biomass, management measures in the fishery, and fishing effort.

Data sources:
Biomass and landings from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center Assessment of 19 Northeast Groundfish Stocks through 2007

Important Dates

1930s – Yellowtail flounder become a key part of the U.S. demersal (bottom) fishery when the stock of winter flounder declines
1950s – Landings suffer a dramatic decline
1960s – Landings peak due to increased fishing effort
1980s – Abundance of New England groundfish decline by 65% when haddock, redfish, and yellowtail flounder reach record low levels
1985 – Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan implemented
1987 – Amendment 1 tightens mesh size regulations for Southern New England yellowtail flounder
2004 – Amendment 13 begins rebuilding plan for two yellowtail stocks (Cape Cod/Gulf of Maine and Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic) with rebuilding scheduled to end by 2014
2004 – U.S./Canada Resource Sharing Understanding is implemented, including Georges Bank yellowtail flounder.
2006 – Framework Adjustment 42 begins rebuilding plan for Georges Bank Yellowtail Flounder (with rebuilding scheduled to end by 2014)
2008 – Development of Amendment 16 begins; the amendment is intended to continue the rebuilding programs adopted by Amendment 13 and allow for a sustainable fishery maximizing economic benefits

Notes and Links

General Information:
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) Status of Fishery Resources off the Northeastern U.S. - Yellowtail Flounder

Yellowtail Flounder, Limanda ferruginea, Life History and Habitat Characteristics

NMFS-NEFSC Species Information: Yellowtail Flounder

Fishery Management:
Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP)

Summary of the Northeast Multispecies FMP

Amendments to the Northeast Multispecies FMP

Framework Adjustments for the Northeast Multispecies FMP

Stock Assessments:
Northeast Fisheries Science Center Assessment of 19 Northeast Groundfish Stocks through 2007