Global Spearfishing Regulations
Know before you dive: where spearfishing is legal, everywhere.
One verified atlas of underwater-fishing law — legality, seasons, licenses, equipment rules and verbatim legal texts — for 222 countries.
1,690 sourced legal provisions · every rule quotable
- 222
- Countries covered
- 1,690
- Verbatim law texts
- 2,500
- Mapped dive zones
- 390
- Documented seasons
Where people dive
15 coastlines, and the one rule that decides the trip
Not a popularity ranking — we have no search data and will not pretend otherwise. These are the coasts with an established recreational spearfishing scene where our own record runs deepest, measured in verbatim law texts and individually mapped zones. Each line is the rule most likely to change your plans, taken from that country’s own record.
Legal wording is quoted in English throughout, including in translated pages: machine-translating a statute on a legal product is not something we are willing to do.
Croatia
RestrictedA speargun is legal only on the sport licence sold through the federation clubs — the cheaper recreational licence does not buy the right to carry one.
28 laws · 42 zonesGreece
RestrictedNo licence and no fee, but the whole of May is closed nationwide — and the Thermaikos and Thessaloniki gulfs are shut to the speargun all year.
8 laws · 63 zonesSpain
RestrictedLicensed region by region on the mainland; around the Canaries the sea is closed by default and spearfishing is lawful only inside the named zonas acotadas.
9 laws · 89 zonesItaly
RestrictedBreath-hold only and 16 or over to hold a speargun; 5 kg a day with a single grouper, and Zone A of every marine protected area is off limits.
7 laws · 102 zonesFrance
RestrictedNo licence, but civil-liability insurance is compulsory — and from 10 January 2026 every spearfisher in the Mediterranean must register under the EU recreational-fishing rules.
5 laws · 27 zonesTürkiye
RestrictedSince 1 January 2026 a speargun fisher must hold the Amateur Fisherman Document — the same document stays optional for every other amateur method.
21 laws · 93 zonesBahamas
RestrictedSpearguns are banned outright: a Hawaiian sling or pole spear only, endorsed on a sport-fishing permit, and never within a mile of the New Providence coast.
11 laws · 15 zonesCayman Islands
RestrictedThe speargun licence is granted only to Caymanians over 18, so there is no lawful spearfishing access for a visitor at all.
8 laws · 38 zonesBonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
RestrictedBonaire's marine park covers every metre of water around the island down to 60 m and has banned spearfishing since 1971; on Saba it is reserved to residents.
13 laws · 8 zonesAustralia
RestrictedWritten state by state: New South Wales and Victoria charge a recreational fishing fee where Queensland, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania charge none.
26 laws · 411 zonesNew Zealand
RestrictedNo licence at all for sea fishing — but crayfish may never be taken by spear, and every marine reserve is closed.
7 laws · 48 zonesFrench Polynesia
RestrictedA long-standing tradition that needs no licence, yet breathing underwater while you hunt is banned: no tank and no hookah.
10 laws · 18 zonesUnited States
RestrictedA state licence under a federal layer offshore, and fresh water is the trap — Florida bans freshwater spearfishing entirely.
15 laws · 226 zonesMexico
RestrictedA CONAPESCA sport-fishing permit is required of everyone, visitors included: one rubber- or spring-powered speargun per diver, five fish a day.
6 laws · 26 zonesSouth Africa
RestrictedA recreational permit endorsed for spearfishing, snorkel only, ten fish a day in total — and estuaries are closed.
6 laws · 23 zones
The state of play
Where the world stands on spearfishing
Most coastal nations permit spearfishing only under conditions — gear limits, closed seasons, marine reserves, or a license. We document the exact rule, not a verdict.
What you get
Everything you need to dive within the law
Researched country by country, sourced line by line — so the guesswork stays on land.
Verbatim law texts
Every rule quoted from its real source — articles, instruments and links you can cite.
Read the lawMapped dive zones
See allowed and prohibited areas on an interactive map — reserves, parks and open water.
Open the mapSeasons & licenses
Closed and open periods month by month, plus how to get the right permit — and its cost.
Check seasonsPlan a trip
Filter by resident or foreigner rules and find where it is legal in the month you travel.
Plan a diveHow this is made
Compiled from the law itself, and checkable line by line
This site is a view of one dataset: a single machine-readable record for each of 222 countries and territories, holding 1,690 verbatim provisions of law and 2,818 named zones where a specific rule applies. Nothing in it is written from memory.
- Every quote is copied from the instrument itself — a gazette, a consolidated act, a decree — and stored with the URL it came from, never from a summary or a dive-shop page.
- Research and verification are separate passes: an independent check re-fetches each citation and reads the quote against it word for word, and what it cannot confirm does not ship.
- “Unknown” is a legitimate answer. 89 of the 222 records are rated high confidence and the rest say so on their own page.
Recently revised
A date marks the last research pass over that record — not a change in the law.
How records are dated →Start exploring
The whole world's spearfishing law, on one map.
No more scattered forum threads or out-of-date PDFs. Search any coast, read the actual rule, and dive with confidence.
