Nothing moral in my thoughts on this Allan, simply eleven years experience of running a fishery. Folk frequently hooked each other when fishing from boats, in the face, ears, neck and head ..... and themselves in hands and fingers. I was frequently asked to help to remove barbed and de-barbed hooks from folk and in the end wouldn't do it - it was inevitably my fault when it hurt
Barbless hooks did make a very big difference in how long it took to release a fish, how much that fish was handled and greatly reduced mouth wounds in my experience too. But perhaps the worst culprit for mouth wounds was aggressive striking with rods in the heavier line weights.
Cheers
Mike
