The fish aren't biting so much these days. It's undoubtedly because there aren't as many anymore, and that sad fact is fueling the push to regulate fishing in state waters.

Some in the fishing industry are pushing back — hard. A key vehicle is House Bill 1848; the latest draft was heard Monday by the Senate Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs Committee. That measure shouldn't proceed unless it's radically revised.

Topping the list of flaws, the bill would nullify fishing rules that were to become effective after Jan. 1. These would include regulations on gill net fishing and bottomfish, centerpieces in the Department of Land and Natural Resource's efforts to improve fishery management.

Those rules were devised after a host of community meetings, but HB 1848 would also impose a new protocol for vetting proposed fishing rules through the community.

Striking the new rules would be ill-conceived step. The review process that would be imposed before any new rules are enacted would be onerous. Setting the bar so high would mean fishing resources would continue to be depleted while the rulemakers slog through required scientific studies and consultation.

Fortunately, the Senate committee seems poised to remove these impediments to DLNR management. The chairman, Sen. Russell Kokubun, favors including a wider range of participants in the bill's proposed task force.

The job of this task force would be to help create additional community-based, voluntary fishing management areas, modeled after the successful efforts in fishing communities like Miloli'i.

Some statewide rules are essential, but the idea of bringing the fishing communities into the management of their own resources is a good one.