George Low, a fisheries management biologist with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, was expecting barbless hooks to become mandatory early in the new year but said the matter is still before Parliament in Ottawa.

Can you spot the difference? Officers from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans can. NWT anglers were supposed to go barbless this winter, but DFO is still awaiting word from Ottawa about when that will go into effect. - Merle Robillard/NNSL photo

Jurisdiction over angling and commercial fishing in the NWT falls under federal guidelines, and as a result, any substantive changes must be approved in the House of Commons and Senate before becoming law.

"It's been there since last February, but it's still making its way gradually through," said Low.

"But we're expecting it'll be in law by open water (season), which is when we want it."

Low wasn't sure if the barbless provision would receive mention in the 2003 NWT fishing guide -- due out at the end of March -- but said it's possible.

The federal government has yet to embark on an information campaign informing NWT anglers they will need barbless hooks next summer, but Low said once the changes are approved, the DFO will begin making public notices.

The barbless rule isn't the only change anglers will see next year. Catch quotas for lake trout are being reduced on a section of Great Slave Lake's East Arm known as Area 6, which includes Christie Bay, McLeod Bay and a portion of the Hearne Channel.

Daily catch limits there for trout will be reduced from two to one, and possession limits will drop from three to two.

Ragnar Wesstrom, owner of Trout Rock Lodge on Great Slave Lake's North Arm, said the barbless rule will have no effect on his operation because, like many lodge owners in the NWT, he went barbless years ago.

"I think it makes a lot of common sense," said Wesstrom. "We went as far as mandatory single hook barbless."