Ha ha! I suggested reducing hook numbers in an OPINION article in Fishing News Magazine a year or so ago. Reaction to that just fell short of violence. Seems the longliners are either very hungry or just greedy and want to fill all their hooks all the time. You can only justify so many bin fulls of snapper each year. Mind you with a $3000 to $5000 investment maybe they want to justify the expense to themselves.

I still reckon that 5 hooks would be more than fair. How about fishing lures on the longline. There are plenty of places where one could fish their longline out to gamefish waters towing a marlin lure. Now that could be fun, towing a marlin chugger up and down the coast 2km offshore at Waihau Bay or off the west coast. You may need a spare battery for your winch though before you land your 300kg Blue Marlin.
You seem to be taking all this a bit personally Hangler, just chill out and enjoy your fishing whatever you do. Dont report longline catches here as we are not interested. Great to hear that you are achieving some local catches. Our heaviest snapper for the Pania Surfcasting Club fishing last weekend was from East Clive. A thresher shark was weighed from Awatoto and kahawai at the river mouths.
I just think that we need to respect each others space. Two surfcasters might need 20 m between them but a surfcaster and a longliner need a lot more.