Starting Monday, bottomfishing in state waters of the main Hawaiian Islands will be temporarily closed, announced the Department of Land and Natural Resources, this week.

Bottomfishing for the snapper and grouper species, known as the “Deep 7,” which include ehu, gindai, kalekale, lehi, onaga, opakapaka and hapu‘upu‘u, will be forbidden during the closed season.

The state closure of bottomfishing will complement a federal bottomfishing closure which will take effect Wednesday. The federal closure will affect all waters within 3 nautical miles of land.

“Since 2005, bottomfish in the main Hawaiian Islands have been declared to be in a state of overfishing,” Laura Thielen, DLNR chairperson, said in a press release. “If the federal total allowable catch were to be exceeded, this could have adverse consequences on Hawai‘i’s fishery in the future.”

According to Sylvia Spalding of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, fishing will still be open in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

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(Source: Rachel Gehrlein, Kauai Garden Island News)

DLNR Press Release (.PDF)