Landing fish that we have been told not to land can be used as fodder for the anti-fishing folk.
Ben, you're out of line bro. The rules and regs say we must immediately release the fish once we identify it as a protected fish. You weren't there, I was, and you couldn't identify what it was until it was 10' away in the shore break.
Yes, at that point to comply with the letter of the law you should cut the line.
But, I have spoken with a number of DFW wardens in the field that all say privately that at that point they want you to remove the hardware if you can do it safely for the fish and the fisherman. To a man they have all said they want us to apply common sense and that they are not going to site anybody for landing and assisting the fish. They all also mentioned having a serious problem with pier fishermen that don't have licenses that hook into a large black sea bass or great white that are afraid to take the fish to the beach to release it because they are afraid if they step foot on the sand they will be cited for fishing without a license. Again, to a man all of the DFW wardens have said they would never do that and they wished fishermen would use some common sense.
If you do decide to land the fish to remove the hardware, do not stop to do anything but remove the hook and return it to the sea. No pictures. No measurements. Just land it safely as quickly as possible and return it immediately.
The agents in the field are the ones who are going to make the decision as to whether or not you are going to get a citation. And if they all tell me they would prefer me to handle a given situation a certain way, then I'm going to do everything within my abilities to meet their request.
This is a situation every land based big game fisherman should think about and decide for themselves what they are going to do before it happens so they know how to react should they face it.