Sometimes there are only limited things you can do within your own borders to protect marine life. The pelagic armorhead, once numerous on the Hancock Seamount at the far end of the Hawaiian Archipelago, is an example.

Hancock lies just beyond Kure Atoll, but within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. Armorhead were fished out by Russian and Japanese trawlers 30 years ago.

The U.S. took action in 1986 to protect the fish by placing a moratorium on fishing for armorhead on Hancock Seamount. The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council's fishery management plan has prohibited fishing for the species ever since. But 20 years later, armorhead still are present only at low levels.

"Unfortunately, the fishing grounds of the Hancock Seamount comprise only about 5 percent of the total," said marine biologist Jill Swasey, a fishery consultant and co-author of a study for the Lenfest Ocean Program on the rebuilding of fishery stocks under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

"This indicates that closure of this small region may have a negligible effect on the population's ability to recover, with much of the fishery unregulated," Swasey said.

The main author of that study, Andrew Rosenberg of the University of New Hampshire, said that's an indication of a problem.

"We did look at that fishery. Obviously, a closure is a strong and appropriate action within the council jurisdiction, but supporting a wider international ban on the seamount fishery is probably the only hope for these stocks. Hopefully, the council is supporting such a broader ban," he said.

Kitty Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, said that the council has been trying to arrange an international workshop to bring together the fishing nations of the Pacific, in hopes of establishing international protocols for protecting the armorhead. But the effort has been without success, she said.

Proponents of strict controls on fishing in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have used the armorhead as an example of the fragility of the fisheries of the region. Other examples are the pearl fishery of Pearl and Hermes Atoll, which has not recovered significantly from heavy fishing nearly a century ago; and the lobster fishery, which has not recovered after heavy fishing despite being closed since the late 1990s.

If you have a question or concern about the Hawaiian environment, drop a note to Jan TenBruggencate at P.O. Box 524, Lihu'e, HI 96766 or jant@honoluluadvertiser.com. Or call him at (808) 245-3074.