FEATURE | SUSTAINABILITY
SUSTAINABILITY And The Tackle Trade
A VICIOUS CIRCLE
38 www.tackletradeworld.com
Stuart McLanaghan, director of sustainable angling at
environmental consultancy fish21, explores the role of circle hooks.
Will they protect the future of fishing?
Manufacturers
make – and
anglers own
– a vast array
of fi shing tackle. But
for all this veritable
‘tackle armada’, it is
only the hook that
makes direct contact
with the fi sh. This
month I want to focus on circle hooks
– possibly the most signifi cant advance
in conservation in the history of fi shing
hooks.
A substantial amount of research
supports the use of circle hooks as the
best way to promote the survival of
fi sh when using ‘catch-and-release’ –
which I defi ne as providing all returned
fi sh with the “maximum survival
opportunity to successfully breed and
grow bigger.”
But even when anglers fi sh to eat, it
is still important to use circle hooks.
Not only do they not reduce the ability
to catch fi sh, they also ensure that,
if non-target species or undersized
juvenile fi sh are accidentally caught,
they can be safely released with greater
certainty. They can also enable anglers
to continue fi shing even when their
permitted daily ‘bag limit’ (for example
at a stocked trout fi shery) has been
reached.
Circle hook use does not just apply to
recreational angling. With commercial
fi shing, it is important to minimise the
unintended capture of marine fi sh and
other animals (so-called ‘by-catch’).
Commercial long-line fi shing can
include thousands of baited hooks in
pursuit of target species such as tuna,
swordfi sh and halibut.
But non-target marine animal species
can also be caught unintentionally
– sea turtles, sharks, cetaceans (eg.
dolphins), or even albatross. Again,
studies have shown that replacing
traditional J-profi le hooks with circle
ones can signifi cantly reduce by-catch
mortality when marine animals,
including fi sh, are released alive.
SO WHAT IS A CIRCLE HOOK?
Circle hooks are designed and
manufactured with the point turned
perpendicularly (90 degrees) back to the
hook shank, to form a mainly ‘circular’
shape. As a result, they work differently
from all other hook types, since the
angler does not need to ‘set’ the hook
in the traditional way. Instead, a circle
hook slides out of the fi sh’s throat and,
on reaching the corner of its mouth, the
hook point rotates and sets itself in the
lip or jaw.
This design matters because one of
the main factors affecting the survival
rate of fi sh released by anglers is hook
position. Fish survival is greatly reduced
when fi sh are deeply hooked from the
throat downwards. Anglers who already
use circle hooks say that once they
have mastered the requirement not to
‘strike’ – instead letting the fi sh ‘take’
the bait and then simply reeling in the
line – their hook-up rates are broadly
comparable with J-profi le hooks.
A signifi cant body of published
studies and research confi rm that circle
hooks can reduce post-release mortality
by minimising deep- and foul-hooking.
Unsurprisingly, an increasing number
of (US) fi sheries now mandate their
use. For example, these prohibitions
include all ‘highly migratory species’
permit holders, when recreationally
fi shing for shark in certain US waters
and in the Florida state waters of the
Gulf of Mexico. In both cases, the rules
stipulate non-offset, non-stainless-steel
circle hooks.
This ‘non-offset’ criterion is crucially
important. If the hook has an ‘offset’
angle, in other words the point, bend
and shank are not aligned, the hook
point no longer remains ‘shielded’
which can negate its effectiveness in
A signifi cant body of
published studies and
research confi rm that
circle hooks can reduce
post-release mortality by
minimising deep- and
foul-hooking.”
Stuart McLanaghan
/www.tackletradeworld.com