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Fishery Bulletin 111(4) 
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Figure 1 
Map of the current bottomfish restricted fishing areas (BRFAs) in the main Hawai- 
ian Islands. Highlighted letters indicate the 6 BRFAs — (B) Niihau, (D) Kaena, (E) 
Makapuu, (F) Penguin Bank, (H) Pailolo Channel, and (L) Hilo — that were sampled 
from May 2007 to June 2009 with the use of a baited stereo-video camera system for 
the study of the habitat associations of 4 snapper species. 
gional Fishery Management Council (WPRFMC) as- 
sessed bottomfish stocks in the main Hawaiian Islands 
(MHI) by calculating their estimated spawning poten- 
tial ratios (SPRs) from annual commercial catch data 
and established the critical threshold for designation 
of a stock in a state of recruitment overfishing at a 
SPR of 20%. Two bottomfish species, the Onaga and 
Ehu, had SPRs well below 20% for most of this period 
(DAR 2 ) and were, therefore, considered to be in a state 
of recruitment overfishing. 
In 1996, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 
and Management Act imposed a mandate on regional 
fishery councils to restore the stocks of overfished spe- 
cies to healthy levels (i.e. , SPR >20%) within a 10-year 
time period. To address this problem, the WPRFMC 
turned to the DAR, which created 19 bottomfish restrict- 
ed fishing areas (BRFAs) and prohibited bottomfishing 
in them (Div. Aquatic Resources, Department of Land 
2 DAR (Division of Aquatic Resources). 2006. Hawaii’s bot- 
tomfish fishery, Land Board briefing paper, 17 p. [Available 
from Division of Aquatic Resources, Hawaii Department of 
Land and Natural Resources, 1151 Punchbowl St., Rm. 330, 
Honolulu, HI 96813.] 
and Natural Resources, Chapter 13-94, Bottomfish Man- 
agement, Hawaii Administrative Rules). These BRFAs, 
which took effect on June 1, 1998, were designed to pro- 
tect 20% of deepwater areas in the depth range of 100- 
400 m, where most Onaga and Ehu are found (Parke, 
2007). However, identification of suitable geographic ar- 
eas for closure was difficult at that time because of a 
lack of adequate habitat data — a common problem for 
most deepwater fisheries given the logistical challenges 
involved in sampling the deep sea. 
In 2007, the DAR revised the BRFA system with 
data from surveys conducted with a multibeam sonar 
system, fishing surveys, and analysis of video collected 
during surveys with a submersible — all of which pro- 
vided a great deal of new information on bottomfish 
habitats. The original BRFAs established in 1998 were 
retained, expanded, relocated, or opened to fishing, and 
the 12 BRFAs established in 2007 (Fig. 1) contained sig- 
nificantly more of the hard, steep habitat believed to be 
preferred by most bottomfish species (Parke, 2007). This 
belief was formed on the basis of results from submers- 
ible and fishing surveys that found some species in the 
water column adjacent to areas of high relief, such as 
underwater headlands, ledges, outcrops, and pinnacles 
