A Washington, D.C., ocean conservation group is calling for a complete ban on fishing in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, contending that the supply of such choice varieties of bottomfish as 'opakapaka and ha-pu'upu'u are steadily declining and could hit the "overfished" level within four years.

The Ocean Conservancy called for the ban yesterday, saying the organization's analysis of records kept by the National Marine Fisheries Service shows catch rates have steadily decreased during the past 15 years.

But a senior official at the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council blasted the group's conclusion that the fishery is in trouble and called its analysis "deeply flawed."

In a separate announcement yesterday, the Scientific and Statistical Committee of the fishery council has recommended that fishing pressure for bottomfish in the main Hawaiian Islands be reduced at least 15 percent — either through a closed bottomfishing season statewide in summer, or permanent closures of Penguin Banks off Moloka'i and Middle Bank off Kaua'i.

Fisheries officials say the main Hawaiian Islands are much more heavily fished than the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and that anglers are catching smaller fish and less weight of catch per outing.

That suggestion was a surprise to some Hawai'i anglers, who feel that state restrictions, which include 19 no-bottomfishing areas around the state, should be given a chance to work.

"I don't think there's a problem," said Sidney Medeiros, commodore of the Maui Trailer Boat Club. "When I do go out and bottomfish, I catch what I intend to catch. I don't think closing is the answer. If they close it, they'll never reopen it. Never."

The committee's recommendation for the main Hawaiian Islands will be considered by the full Western Pacific council at its meetings in Guam on Nov. 8-11, with public hearings expected in January 2006 and a final recommendation in March 2006.

At a news conference at Bishop Museum yesterday concerning the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands fishery, Dennis Heinemann, the Ocean Conservancy's senior research scientist, said that unless steps are taken to prohibit bottomfishing throughout the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, fish stocks would reach the danger threshold by next year and would fall into the "overfished" category by 2010.

Catch rates have dropped from about 800 pounds per boat per day in 1988 to about 400 pounds today, and if bottomfishing is allowed to continue, catch rates likely would continue to drop to 300 pounds per boat per day by 2010, Heinemann said.

"The anticipated decrease in the number of fish being caught suggests that the fishery is not being properly managed," he said.

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands chain is a string of low islands that extends some 1,000 miles from Nihoa Island northwest of Kaua'i to Kure Atoll.

Nine boats currently have the permits necessary to take bottomfish from the area. Although the number of boats allowed into the fishery has decreased over the years, technology improvements have increased their ability to find and catch fish.

Heinemann said the 'opakapaka catch in the fishery dropped by nearly 90 percent between 1993 and 2003, while the amount of Hawaiian grouper, or hapu'upu'u, caught decreased 60 percent in the same period.

Catch totals continued to drop, indicating the fishery's "sustainable yield," or ability to regenerate, has been surpassed, Heinemann said.

Paul Dalzell, senior scientist with the fishery council, disputed the analysis.

"I think their analysis is deeply flawed and that they were very selective in the data used to support their agenda," Dalzell said.

He said the National Marine Fisheries Service and the council both believe the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands fishery remains healthy and that a ban on bottomfishing is not required.

"This 'analysis' is not a peer-reviewed scientific paper," Dalzell said. "It appears to have been written using very selective information to further the Ocean Conservancy's advanced agenda, which is to have no fishing in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands."

He said the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council has been taking specific steps, including ongoing studies and further data analysis, "to ensure it will remain in good shape."

"You have to understand the conservancy is committed to the goal of shutting down commercial fishing in the Hawaiian Islands," Dalzell said.

At yesterday's news conference, Heinemann said efforts to ban bottomfishing in the Northwest Islands coincide with Gov. Linda Lingle's signing into law last month new administrative rules that ban commercial and recreational fishing within three miles of each of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and efforts by Hawai'i Congressman Ed Case, who introduced a bill in the U.S. Congress four months ago to extend complete wildlife refuge protection for the entire area.

Case attended the news conference yesterday to support the fishing ban proposed by the Ocean Conservancy.

Jim Cook, who supplies the commercial fishing industry through his Pacific Island Producers company, and who operates several commercial fishing boats as well, said he had not seen the Ocean Conservancy analysis. But he called its conclusion — that the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands fishery should be shut down — "a leap of faith."

"You've got nine fishing boats working an area that extends 1,200 miles to the northwest, an area that's longer than the coastline of California, Oregon and Washington combined," Cook said. "And you've got 4,000 other boats fishing the rest of (the ocean waters in) Hawai'i."

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.