Though a relatively new liquor license allows Captain Al's to operate year-round, owners Al and Judy Harrington say that, due to the economy and their location, they'll have to continue operating seasonally.

"The business has dropped off, as it always does, at the end of the season," Judy Harrington told the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday. "We've now discovered, after four years, that trying to stay open during the week presents a problem."

The Harringtons appeared before the Selectmen to get permission to reduce the bar's hours to Thursday through Sunday, noon to midnight, beginning on October 15. Captain Al's is currently open seven days.

The Selectmen approved the change, so long as town attorneys do not advise that a public hearing must be held for such a change of hours. If approved, Captain Al's will also close for the season on November 30 until April 1. It will reopen in April with its regular, seven-days-per-week schedule.

Captain Al's received one of eight of the town's "above-quota" liquor licenses from the state in 2010. The year-round licenses were obtained through special legislation because Wareham had already met its maximum number of licenses, which is based on population.

When Al Harrington appeared before the Selectmen in January to explain why his establishment was not operating in the winter, he noted that he had second thoughts about the year-round license.

As Judy Harrington told Wareham Week on Tuesday: The primarily open-air restaurant, which sits on Buttermilk Bay in East Wareham, "is seasonal by location."

That, coupled with the drop in customers as tourist season ended, prompted the further reduction of hours.

"We're trying to adapt to the economy," Judy Harrington said, noting that she and her husband would have loved to operate Captain Al's year-round.

Though initially concerned about whether they could allow a restaurant with a year-round liquor license to operate seasonally, the Selectmen learned from town attorneys that, as the licensing authority, they can make such decisions.

The year-round license cannot, however, be given to another establishment that would like to be open year-round. In approving Wareham's above-quota licenses, legislators restricted the licenses to specific addresses.