Industry standards are established to ensure interoperability between different manufacturer’s products when it is required for consistent and safe application of those products. When the AFFTA (American Fish Tackle Association) adopted the Fly Reel Seat standard it did it for good reason. Prior to the standard there was no guarantee that the reel you bought for your fly rod would actually fit as both rod and reel manufacturers could build a product with any size reel seat they wanted. Another example of both interoperability and safety is the simple electrical plug. No matter who manufactures the plug or receptacle it must need both configuration and dimensional standards. It they didn’t, they wouldn’t work together very well, and even if they did connect, they might be made in a way that was unsafe for the consumer. In the case of a fish hook, it is an independent product that does not require precise interoperability with any other product to function well or safely. Before we had hook eyes, tippets were successfully tied to the shank of the hook. Hook eyes improved ease of use, but no specific hook eye size or configuration was required for the hook to function.I can think of a "compelling reason" for hook size standards: respect for customers.
I don't know what you mean by "interoperability and safety reasons" in relation to hook size standards. Could you please explain? Thanks in advance.
One thing that some hook manufacturers advertise is "wide gape". That is misleading and annoying. For example, if they say their size 14 hook is a wide gape, it's actually a larger size hook, because hook sizes are gape sizes. If that "wide gape" 14 has the gape of a 12, then it's a 12. Likely a short shank 12.
As far as “respect for customers” as a rationale for an industry standard, I think it might be pretty difficult to dictate what the standard might be. I’ll challenge you to suggest a hook sizing standard that would satisfy the majority of consumers.