Protecting the Northwest Hawaiian Islands as a national monument has been cheered by environmentalists and others, but those who fish or use fish from those areas — particularly when the catch is bottomfish — are dreading a ban scheduled to take effect in five years.

"I think it is going to have a big effect on the availability of bottomfish in Hawai'i," said Bobby Gomes, a Maui fisherman who, for the past 15 years, has been one of about eight people who fish the Northwest Hawaiian Islands for such popular Hawaiian fish as onaga (ruby snapper), ehu (yellowstriped snapper), 'opakapaka (pink snapper) and other bottomfish.

"But (the ban) is going to have an even bigger effect on me," he said. "This is my job. I've dedicated my whole life to fishing. I just bought a new boat. How am I going to support my family? How am I going to send my daughter to college?

"I'm born and raised here," he said. "I'm Hawaiian. I feel they've taken away our land and now they are taking away our oceans."

Those whose livelihoods depend on the availability of bottomfish are already facing a mandated 15 percent reduction in catch in the waters surrounding the main Hawaiian Islands, where overfishing has become a concern, said Kitty Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council.

"There are thousands of boats here in the main Hawaiian Islands," Simonds said. "There are only eight or nine permitted boats in the Northwest."

Still, about half the Hawaiian bottomfish served in Hawai'i come from the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, she said, where the catch is more abundant.

"After the reduction in the main, we were depending on the catch in Northwest Hawaiian Islands," she said. "Now I guess we'll just be importing more fish. Isn't anyone concerned?"

Bottomfish are imported from Tonga, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The thought of those imported fish or of frozen bottomfish from the Mainland being served in Hawai'i makes Chef George Mavrothalassitis shudder.

Mavrothalassitis said he doesn't even use the Northwest Hawaiian Islands bottomfish in his Honolulu restaurant, Chef Mavro, because after the five-day commute back to O'ahu, they aren't as fresh as snappers caught in nearby waters.

Still, he said, he is worried about the combined effects of the restrictions in nearby fishing areas and the eventual ban in the Northwest Islands.

"I am very concerned about that," he said. "I love cooking fish. I am a fish specialist. Now there is going to be a shortage of the snappers. The price is going to go up. Maybe I will have to remove them from the menu and we will serve only mahimahi, and then after awhile there will be no more mahimahi."

Mavrothalassitis said he thinks it is important to protect ocean life, but he hopes Hawai'i can find a middle ground.

"I came here from the south of France because I thought here I could cook fish forever," he said. "But no, it doesn't work like that — not even here."

Reach Karen Blakeman at kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.