Starting Monday, bottomfishing in state waters of the main Hawaiian Islands will be temporarily closed, announced the Department of Land and Natural Resources, this week. Bottomfishing for the snapper and grouper species, known as the “Deep 7,” which include ehu,
Starting Monday, bottomfishing in state waters of the main Hawaiian Islands will be temporarily closed, announced the Department of Land and Natural Resources, this week.
Bottomfishing for the snapper and grouper species, known as the “Deep 7,” which include ehu, gindai, kalekale, lehi, onaga, opakapaka and hapu‘upu‘u, will be forbidden during the closed season.
The state closure of bottomfishing will complement a federal bottomfishing closure which will take effect Wednesday. The federal closure will affect all waters within 3 nautical miles of land.
“Since 2005, bottomfish in the main Hawaiian Islands have been declared to be in a state of overfishing,” Laura Thielen, DLNR chairperson, said in a press release. “If the federal total allowable catch were to be exceeded, this could have adverse consequences on Hawai‘i’s fishery in the future.”
According to Sylvia Spalding of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, fishing will still be open in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
The closure was determined by commercial landing data declaring the current fishing season’s total allowable catch of 178,000 pounds was reached in mid-March.
According to Mark Mitsu-yasu, program officer for the Western Pacific Fishery Council, a stretch of warm weather in February contributed to reaching the allowable catch limit.
“The fisheries depend on the weather,” Mitsuyasu said. “A lot of catch came in February.”
Mitsuyasu added that fishermen were notified of the closure by letter and a press conference will take place next week.
Intending to protect the sustainability of the fishery, the Board of Land and Natural Resources recently approved the closure.
According to the press release from the DLNR, both state and federal fisheries agencies have worked together on regulations to implement and monitor the total allowable catch during the fishing season. The current season began on Oct. 1, 2007, and was scheduled to close in May.
The bottomfishing closure will be in effect until at least Aug. 31.
Maps of the closed state waters will be available at hawaii.gov/dlnr/dar, starting Monday.
