Bottomfishing in the main Hawaiian Islands would be subject to a May to August closed season under a proposal before the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council at its meetings this week.

But it could be a temporary closed season, to allow a new series of state no-fishing zones to be established. Whatever regulatory system is decided upon, it will likely face criticism from a collection of fishers, conservation organizations, fishery managers and others who view the problems and solutions of Hawaiian fisheries very differently.

The council's Scientific and Statistical Committee is seeking a 15 percent cut in the fish catch, which NOAA Fisheries has indicated is needed to end overfishing of the 'opakapaka, onaga and other bottomfish around the main islands. The closed summer season would occur during a period of normally light bottomfish catch, and which is a peak spawning season for the species, a council statement said.

But the agency said its plan can only work if the state enacts a parallel closure within state waters.

The state doesn't object to the plan, but has its own concerns, said Dan Polhemus, director of the state Division of Aquatic Resources. The state in 1998 established a series of closed-to-fishing areas, and hopes to fine tune those Restricted Fishing Areas shortly. And it feels its amended protected areas can attain the 15 percent catch reduction without a closed season.

However, the state is willing to set up a closed summer season that will be withdrawn a month at a time over four years as its Restrict Fishing Areas scheme takes effect.

"The whole point of this thing is to arrive at a mutual consensus so we're not doing different things in different areas," said Paul Dalzell, senior scientist for the council.

Dalzell said that a closed season is ultimately easier to enforce than closed areas. "It's very hard to determine whether the closed areas have worked, because it's hard to determine whether they have been respected," he said.

Veteran bottomfisher Leonard Yamada, of Kailua, expressed frustration about establishing fishing regulations when he believes there is inadequate biological data to support them.

"If you look at all of the data, it doesn't look to me like the fishery is in trouble. The commercial catch has been stable," said Yamada, who has a degree in zoology and tracks fishery health. He said that he does not believe that a hook-and-line fishery can deplete stocks the way nets do.

"As long as it's hook and line only, the fish are not in danger. The stock will manage itself," he said.

Stephanie Fried, senior scientist with Environmental Defense, said that both the main Hawaiian Islands' and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands' stocks of bottomfish are depleted, and she is frustrated that the council is just focusing on the main islands.

"They've left out half of the story," she said, calling it a fragmentary management scheme that punishes the fishing community by pushing fish stocks so low that fishers can't make a living.

"The bottomfish fishery peaked in 1987. Westpac has done a tremendous disservice to the people of this state who are dependent on the fishery. It's been a real hardship on anyone who tries to fish for a living," Fried said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.