The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council voted yesterday to ask the secretary of commerce to immediately close the multimillion-dollar Hawai'i longline swordfish fishery.

Under new rules, if 16 leatherback turtles or 17 loggerhead turtles are hooked by longliners in a single year, swordfishing must be closed for the remainder of the year.

So far this year, 15 loggerheads and one leatherback have been hooked, according to the council, which feared the cap could be exceeded before the prescribed seven-day notice period to announce closure of the fishery could be completed.

Longlines, which can extend for 60 miles and drag thousands of hooks, were banned in 2002 because endangered sea turtles were being caught.

But the fisheries service lifted the restriction in 2004 after tests showed "circle" hooks and new measures greatly reduced inadvertent catches.

The fishery operated in 2005 without reaching the caps.

The difference this year is that a change in water temperature has reduced the size of the swordfish fishery to half of what it was in early 2005.

The turtle habitat, which is also affected by temperature, has been reduced, thus increasing turtle density, resulting in the increased likelihood of interactions with the fishery, said Paul Dalzell, the council's senior scientist.