Monday, July 31, 2006

New Rules May Require Circle Hooks and Create Billfish Limit

Circle hooks have been around for a long time and few will argue that their use doesn't significantly improve survival rates for catch and release fishing. Now it seems that the National Marine Fisheries Service may require all anglers in Atlantic billfish tournaments to use circle hooks instead of J-hooks. The NMFS new Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan, which if approved would go into effect January 1st, is intended to aide struggling white marlin populations. White marlin mortality is reduced by two-thirds with the use of circle hooks. A limit for the number of billfish that are landed on the east coast was also included in the management plan. While the vast majority of billfish are released, the new rule would impose a 250-fish limit on combined recreational landings of white marlin and blue marlin for the year. This number is significantly higher than the number of marlin landed for the previous few years but could pose problems in the future for billfish tournaments late in the year like the Pirate's Cove Billfish Tournament. Comments on the proposed changes may be sent to FinalHMSFMP@noaa.gov until August 14th. More on the new rules is available from the Jacksonville Daily News.

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