When it comes to seafood, many folks 

 are partial to the mild-flavored flounder 

 They want only the thin, white fillets of this popular 

 flatfish alongside their slaw and hush puppies. 



B. 



ut the flounder's popularity has also 

 created problems. Using increasingly efficient 

 gear, commercial fishers have responded to the 

 public's hunger for flounder by catching more 

 fish than natural reproduction can replace, a 

 concept fisheries managers refer to as overfish- 

 ing. In addition, habitat changes and environ- 

 mental stresses from declining water quality are 

 diminishing their reproduction rates and 

 survival. 



No wonder populations of these flatfish are 

 floundering. 



Commercial catches of flounder along the 

 East Coast dropped from 1 85 million pounds in 

 1984 to 50.5 million pounds in 1995. And the 

 basics of economic principle say that when 

 supplies are down and demand is high, prices 

 skyrocket. For flounder, prices at grocery stores 

 and seafood markets sometimes top $7 a pound, 

 making the flatfish as expensive as fresh salmon, 

 tuna or mahi-mahi — species that command top 

 prices at the cash register. 



But Sea Grant scientists may have a 

 solution to the problem. Southern flounder is 

 being evaluated as a potential aquaculture 

 species by Craig Sullivan, a North Carolina State 

 University reproductive physiologist; Harry 

 Daniels, an N.C. State University aquaculture 

 specialist; Ron Hodson, North Carolina Sea 

 Grant's interim director; and Ted Smith, a South 

 Carolina Sea Grant fisheries biologist. 



Flounder aquaculture could supplement 

 harvests of wild-caught fish, offering seafood 

 suppliers an abundant, year-round supply and 

 consumers a catch of a moderate price. 



Already, researchers have developed some 

 of the science needed to culture summer 

 flounder, a species that inhabits the offshore 

 waters from North Carolina northward along the 

 Atlantic coast. One commercial hatchery is 

 operating, and a few grow-out operations are 

 under development in northern states. 



But for North Carolina and its southern 

 neighbors, southern flounder is the species of 



choice for aquaculture. The southern flatfish 

 have several attributes that make them excellent 

 candidates for culture. They mature rapidly 

 (two years) and tolerate variations in salinity 

 and temperature. 



These characteristics are much like those 

 of hybrid striped bass, which are grown in 

 freshwater and low-salinity ponds throughout 

 the Southeast. Pond culture of the hybrid has 

 exploded since Sea Grant, the National Coastal 

 Resources Research and Development Institute, 

 and Aurora farmers Lee and Harvey Brothers 

 teamed up eight years ago to demonstrate its 

 viability as a commercial aquaculture species. 

 Southeast fish farmers now harvest 1 million 

 pounds of hybrid bass valued at $22.5 million 

 each year. 



Sea Grant researchers want to repeat their 

 hybrid successes with southern flounder. But 

 before fish farmers start seeing dollars and 

 digging ponds, researchers such as Sullivan, 

 Smith, Daniels and Hodson must complete 

 scientific studies that tackle issues ranging from 

 spawning control to types of feed. 



The process starts with Sullivan, who is 

 determining if hormones can be used to force 

 the southern flounder to spawn on demand. 

 Wild flounder spawn December through 

 January, a reproductive window that would 

 limit year-round production for culturists. 



By injecting the female southern flounder 

 with hormone capsules the size of pencil lead 

 and manipulating light availability, Sullivan and 

 Smith have successfully extended the spawning 

 season six to eight additional weeks. 



The fish spawn in tanks, where Sullivan 

 keeps a ratio of two males for every female. 

 Unlike striped bass and white bass, which must 

 be handled for spawning, southern flounder 

 release their eggs and sperm without assistance. 

 That's good because the flatfish are not as 

 hardy as the bass, and handling would result in 

 high mortality rates for the adult flounder, 

 Daniels says. Continued 



