A circular hook design in which the point of the hook is perpendicular to the hook shank. Circle hooks are used widely in many recreational and commercial fisheries and recently have been shown to reduce both the hooking rate and the mortality of turtles that are hooked on pelagic longline gear. As a result of several successful field trials (Bolten and Bjorndal 2005)(Watson et al. 2005), these hooks are becoming increasingly used in longline fisheries.