While a healthy competition within Hawai'i's thriving culinary scene generates awareness among residents and visitors about the benefits of local farming and the joys of good food — food that is locally grown and locally interpreted — there is one important arena where the competition fails: off-island, within our Hawaiian waters.

Restaurants face an ever-increasing pressure to bring the most prized fish species to their menus year-round. Bottomfish such as 'opakapaka and onaga (caught at depths between 600 to 900 feet), and mahimahi, ono and 'ahi are in high demand locally and for export.

With such a strong, year-round demand for fish, the catch rates of onaga, for instance, "have declined steadily since the early 1950s, and have dropped even more steeply in the past 10 to 15 years," according the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Web site. "As these catch rates have dropped, so has the proportion of mature fish within the catch. About 84 percent of the commercial landings of onaga from the main Hawaiian Islands in 2000 were immature — had not yet spawned. This is a very high percentage of immature fish."

As fish are taken before they spawn, the populations around the Islands are depleted. What's more, many bottomfish are slow- growing. The onaga matures at just over 4 years, and once the fish reaches a large size, at about 26 inches in length, 50 percent of the females will then spawn for the first time, while others spawn later in maturity.

Signs of depletion abound, and have been well documented: 'Opakapaka commercial landings have steadily decreased, from 226,000 pounds in 1998 to 133,000 pounds in 2003, and heavy fishing pressure threatens their future existence.

Thankfully, within every action we can choose a corresponding counter balance. To generate this counterbalance for life within the Hawaiian waters, we must act — thoughtfully and with focus — to help restore fish species and bring our waters into a natural harmony.

Fishermen, chefs, restaurateurs, fish purveyors, Native Hawaiians, environmentalists and legislators must work together to find a solution that ensures a wild fish supply for generations to come. I propose a four-course path: