Hawaii bottomfish closure extended to Nov. 14
Advertiser Staff
The Board of Land and Natural Resources has extended closed fishing season for main Hawaiian Islands bottomfish through Nov. 14. The closed fishing season, which began April 14 was originally scheduled to reopen on Sept. 1.
The board voted to approve the extended closure at a meeting Friday.
The action is in line with a recommendation from the federal Western Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Council, which voted in June to extend the seasonal closure for the main Hawaiian Islands bottomfish fishery through Nov. 14.
This recommendation was based on the need for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries to recalculate its stock assessment using more recent commercial catch data from 2005 to 2007, according to a news release from the DLNR.
The Fisheries Management Council also recommended that this recalculation include Northwestern Hawaiian Island bottomfish catch data, and to account for a reduction of fishing effort there, over time. The Council, which includes the state of Hawai'i, agreed with this analysis and voted unanimously to support the recommendation.
This approved rule change has been filed with the lieutenant governor's office in accordance with state policy, and will become law in 10 days.
The extension of the closed season applies to only seven deepwater bottomfish species – ehu, gindai, hapuupuu, kalekale, lehi, onaga and opakapaka.
Visit the Department of Land and Natural Resources Web site at www.hawaii.gov/dlnr for more information.
The federal fishery managers from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Pacific Islands Regional Office are expected to implement a temporary rule that would extend the closed season for federal waters for the same time period.
For information on the status of the federal fishery rule, visit the following Web sites:
