The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council voted Wednesday to extend the closure of the 2008 Main Hawaiian Islands bottomfishery from Sept. 1 to Nov. 15.

In April, bottomfishing was temporarily closed in state and federal waters because the season’s total allowable catch of 178,000 pounds was reached in mid-March. The season began on Oct. 1, 2007, and was scheduled to close in May.

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

The reason for the delay is to allow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center to finish an updated assessment of data that will be run through a computer model to analyze the potential risk of overfishing at different catch levels.

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(Source: Rachel Gehrlein, Kauai Garden Island News)