The investigative arm of Congress is recommending reforms for the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council, saying practices that limit public access to meeting minutes and other records are cause for concern.

The Government Accountability Office's recommendations were made after the agency spent months investigating allegations that council members misused federal funds to lobby lawmakers.

In a June report, the Government Accountability Office said it did not find evidence to support the allegations but recommended the council make changes to boost transparency and to reduce the chances the council will be accused of misconduct in the future.

The council manages fisheries in federal waters off Hawai'i and U.S. Pacific island territories. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the council, has written to the GAO to say it agrees with the recommendations.

The congressional watchdog launched the investigation last year at the request of U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Waxman, D-Calif., cited allegations made by Hawai'i nonprofit organizations that the council improperly used federal funds to lobby lawmakers.

Public advocates have said they've had trouble obtaining minutes from the council, and a council member was forced to file a request under the Freedom of Information Act to get minutes.

The GAO's findings, released June 19, urged the council to adopt reforms that would allow the public to learn more about the panel and its decisions. Suggestions for the council included publishing reasons members recuse themselves from a vote and posting meeting minutes online as councils for federal fisheries off Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California do.

"We try to operate in a thorough and transparent manner and certainly some of the recommendations by the GAO will help the transparency of the way the council works," said Sean Martin, council chairman. "I think most if not all of the recommendations out of the GAO report are valid considerations for the council to take."

He said council officials have started following some of the GAO's recommendations and consulting with NOAA attorneys on others.

The GAO said the council should notify a NOAA attorney before meeting with federal or state lawmakers or when testifying before a legislative committee.

The council and other bodies that receive federal funds are prohibited from trying to influence legislation. They may, however, present technical or factual information to lawmakers if requested.

Tina Owens, director of the nonprofit Lost Fish Coalition, is among those who filed a formal complaint about the council to the Commerce Department inspector general. She's pleased with the findings, she said, but the council would have benefited from "deeper scrutiny."

"They came to some startling and quite damning conclusions against (the council) in terms of their complete lack of transparency," Owens said. "I would call this a huge victory."

Meanwhile, Rick Gaffney, a Kailua, Kona-based boat dealer and recreation consultant who was a council member from 2005 to 2008, said the probe was "incomplete."

He said he has doubts about whether the council will change.

"I don't think it will improve unless it gets a really massive slap on the wrist and I don't think the GAO does that," he said.

Gaffney said he turned down an opportunity to be reappointed to the council for another term because he felt the council "was failing fisheries in Hawai'i."