New regulations requiring non-stainless steel circle hooks, dehooking devices and venting tools come into effect June 1, 2008 and apply to anyone fishing for reef fish in federal waters, commercial or recreational. The regulations state that you must use non-stainless steel circle hooks. They also require that you possess and use both a venting tool and a de-hooking device. There is a bit of latitude as to what exactly constitutes both those last two things but basically they want you to use a large hypodermic to vent and an approved commercially produced de-hooking tool to remove deep hooks. At this point you are allowed to use pliers as your de-hooking device, but the wording of all their released information strongly favors and suggests more specific tools
“A venting tool must be a sharpened, hollow instrument, such as
a hypodermic syringe with the plunger removed, or a 16–gauge
needle fixed to a hollow wooden dowel. Larger needles or other
penetrating devices are strongly discouraged.
[. . .]
A tool such as a knife or an ice-pick cannot be used.”
And…
“While pliers and forceps can be used as a dehooking
device, the use of dehooking tools that can grab the fishing
line, slide down the line, and remove the hook quickly are
encouraged because these tools require minimal handling of
the fish and are better able to secure the hook during
removal.”
NMFS has posted a full FAQ about the issues (or non-issues, as it may be) which can be seen here in pdf format. Some of the important items are below.
From NOAA
Why are these new regulations needed?
The intent of these new regulations is to reduce bycatch and discard mortality of reef fish that are caught and not kept. If the gear associated with these new regulations is used properly, it will help more reef fish survive when they are released.
When do these new regulations take effect?
The regulations take effect June 1, 2008; however, many commercial fishers and recreational anglers are already using the gear associated with these new regulations in the Gulf of Mexico.
Who must comply with these regulations?
These regulations apply to all commercial and recreational fishermen fishing for reef fish in federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
There’s more, quite a bit more. You can read it here. We’d be very interested to hear your comments on this issue.