Eight fishing areas around Hawaii, where fishing for the “Deep 7” species of bottomfish had been prohibited, have reopened following a vote Friday by the state Board of Land and Natural Resources.

The board voted to reopen the Bottomfish Restricted Fishing Areas after recent assessments found that the fish meant to be protected in those areas were not suffering from overfishing.

Fishing for the Deep 7 species of bottomfish — onaga, ehu, kalekale, opakapaka, ukikiki, hapu‘u and lehi — was prohibited in 12 BRFAs that were established in 2007. Four were opened back in 2019 and are now joined by the final eight.

The restrictions on the fishing areas have been described by critics as being ineffective while also detrimental to fishers.

“It doesn’t seem to be the right tool for the fishery. They’re not enforced — I don’t think there’s ever been a single violation for someone fishing inside a (BRFA), even though it’s broadly known that that does occur,” said Brian Neilson, administrator for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Aquatic Resources, during the board meeting. “It seems to be a system set up to reward rule breakers but penalize folks that follow the rules.”

Neilson also said other management tools, such as bag limits and annual catch limits, are in place to ensure that the bottomfish species aren’t overfished.

The BRFAs’ days became numbered after a 2018 stock assessment of the Deep 7 species that showed that they were not being overfished and had healthier population numbers than previously thought.

Written testimonies for the reopening of the fishing areas were generally from the fishing community and supportive of the reopening. They said that the BRFAs were costly to fishers, who had to travel farther to fish.

Alton Miyasaka, who retired after serving as acting commercial fisheries program manager for DAR, said in testimony that “the bottomfish stock assessments indicate that the bottomfish resources in the main Hawaiian islands are currently underutilized. The BRFA have caused considerable hardship on the bottomfish fishers by increasing travel distances, fuel costs and at-sea risk.”

The annual catch of bottomfish in Hawaii has been on the decline, noted DAR aquatic biologist Brian Ishida during Friday’s meeting. Falling participation in the fishery, COVID-19’s effect on the bottomfish market, shark depredation, adverse fishing conditions and competing fisheries were all described as contributing to that downward trend in catch.

The Deep 7 fishery is relatively small in Hawaii, with an annual revenue of about $1.5 million. By comparison, the longline fishery, which focuses on species such as tuna and swordfish, brings in close to $100 million.

Limited data of the four BRFAs that had opened in 2019 was inconclusive, but Neilson noted that there did not appear to be a rush of fishers to the BRFAs once they reopened.