Editing Flounder (section)

== Threats ==
[[File:Flounder camo md.jpg|thumb|250px|right|A flounder blending into its environment]]
World stocks of large [[predatory fish]] and large ground fish, including [[Sole (fish)|sole]] and flounder, were estimated in 2003 to be only about 10% of pre-industrial levels, largely due to [[overfishing]]. Most overfishing is due to the extensive activities of the fishing industry.<ref name="Clover2008">{{cite book|first=Charles|last=Clover|title=The End of the Line: How Overfishing is Changing the World and what We Eat|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OMY-gEKMod8C|year=2008|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-25505-0|oclc=67383509}}</ref><ref name="Myers2003">{{Cite journal | last1 = Myers | first1 = R. A. | last2 = Worm | first2 = B. | doi = 10.1038/nature01610 | title = Rapid worldwide depletion of predatory fish communities | journal = Nature | volume = 423 | issue = 6937 | pages = 280–283 | year = 2003 | pmid =  12748640| bibcode = 2003Natur.423..280M | s2cid = 2392394 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bioedonline.org/news/nature-news/save-big-fish/|last=Dalton|first=Rex|date=2006|title=Save the big fish: Targeting of larger fish makes populations prone to collapse|work=BioEd Online|access-date=26 March 2017|archive-date=27 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170327165926/http://www.bioedonline.org/news/nature-news/save-big-fish/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1038/nature05232|pmid=17051218|title=Fishing elevates variability in the abundance of exploited species|journal=Nature|volume=443|issue=7113|pages=859–62|year=2006|last1=Hsieh|first1=Chih-hao|last2=Reiss|first2=Christian S.|last3=Hunter|first3=John R.|last4=Beddington|first4=John R.|last5=May|first5=Robert M.|last6=Sugihara|first6=George|bibcode=2006Natur.443..859H|s2cid=4398663}}</ref> Current estimates suggest that approximately 30 million flounder (excluding [[Sole (fish)|sole]]) are alive in the world today.{{when|date=October 2024}}<ref>{{cite web |title=flounder fish facts |url=https://a-z-animals.com/animals/flounder/ |website=a-z-animals.com}}</ref> In the [[Gulf of Mexico]], along the coast of [[Texas]], research indicates the flounder population could be as low as 15 million due to heavy overfishing and industrial pollution.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 2000 |title=The Flounder Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico, United States: A Regional Management Plan |publisher=[[Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission]] |id=Number 83 |url=https://www.gsmfc.org/publications/GSMFC%20Number%20083.pdf }}</ref>