Seven popular bottomfish will remain off-limits for fishermen in the main Hawaiian Islands until Nov. 15, 11 weeks longer than the original ban, the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council decided yesterday.

The council has capped harvest of the so-called "deep seven" species in the past two years in an attempt to prevent overfishing.

Before yesterday's decision, fishing for ehu (squirrelfish snapper), gindai (snapper), hapu'upu'u (sea bass), kalekale (snapper), lehi (silver-jaw jobfish), onaga (longtail snapper) and opakapaka (pink snapper) was to have resumed on Sept. 1.

The council sets policy for fishing in U.S. waters around Hawai'i and U.S. Pacific territories.

The extended ban on catching bottomfish will allow the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center more time to update its assessment of how many bottomfish are out there, center director Sam Pooley said.

Scientists will be adding data from the 2005-07 bottomfish harvests to their earlier calculations of the fishery's health, he said.

Bottomfishing in the main Hawaiian Islands was halted April 16 after catch records showed that the current limit of 178,000 pounds for this year had been exceeded.

Meanwhile, a handful of boats continue to fish for bottomfish in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, but that fishery will be closed in 2011 because of a presidential order setting up the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Any bottomfish now on sale in Hawai'i is from the Northwestern Islands or imported from other countries, Pooley said.

"The evidence is strong that (bottomfish) stock in the main Hawaiian Islands is depressed," Pooley said.

The council expects to review scientists' data in October and use it to decide what the total allowable bottomfish catch will be for the 2008-09 season, it said in a news release.