American plaice (Hippoglossoides platessoides) and yellowtail flounder (Limanda ferruginea) are managed in NAFO area 4VW as components of a flatfish species complex that also includes witch flounder (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus) and winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus). Witch flounder is assessed independently of the other flatfish species in this complex, and winter flounder are too sparse in 4VW to constitute a fishery (Fowler et al. 2000). 

Based on DFO summer RV surveys, yellowtail flounder appear to consist of two separate concentrations, only one of which has been fished since about 1987. The concentration on Banquereau (4Vs) supported the fishery until 1996, while the concentration on Sable Island Bank (4W) has not been fished since the 1980s (DFO 2002).