It's unlikely that a scientific and technical dispute over the health of the key bottom-fish stock in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands will be resolved anytime soon.

In the absence of consensus, the best path is to err on the side of caution and further limit or even ban taking of bottom fish until the matter can be resolved.

This surely is not a solution favored by those who fish in the area. But everyone agrees that once a fishery reaches a certain level of depletion, it effectively "collapses."

No one wants that.

The pressure for a ban comes from the Ocean Conservancy, a Washington, D.C., conservation group. It says its analysis of fishery records shows a steadily declining catch rate over the past decade or so.

Without a ban, the group says, a collapse is inevitable.

But officials at the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, the federal agency long charged with monitoring and managing fisheries in this part of the world, say the conservancy's analysis is flawed and motivated by its desire to stop all fishing in the Northwestern Islands.

The council says the fishery is relatively healthy and well-managed. The right approach, according to the council, is relatively modest regulation plus new restrictions on bottom-fish takes in the main Hawaiian Islands, where there is far more intense fishing pressure.

That position has already run afoul of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which said this week the fishery council's ideas for catch management would fail to meet the goals of a proposed marine sanctuary in the Northwestern Islands.

Ultimately, it would make sense to convert the Northwestern Islands into a complete national wildlife refuge, as proposed in a bill from Hawai'i Congressman Ed Case. This would substantially limit all human activity in what is generally regarded as the most pristine coral reef ecosystem in the United States and one of the best preserved in the world.

Creating such a refuge would, of course, end all commercial and even recreational fishing in the area. Thus it becomes imperative that fish stocks elsewhere in the Hawaiian Islands are encouraged to flourish and grow.

That means careful monitoring and increased "no-take" seasons and areas.

If fishing ends, either temporarily or permanently, in the Northwestern Islands, then alternative sources for this important industry must be protected and enhanced.