SpearfishingMap

United States Minor Outlying Islands · Spearfishing zone

Navassa Island National Wildlife Refuge (Caribbean Sea)

Prohibited zonenational wildlife refuge

What this zone is

Overview

How spearfishing is treated at Navassa Island National Wildlife Refuge (Caribbean Sea).

Navassa is the only Caribbean member of the U.S. Minor Outlying Islands: an uninhabited 5 km2 limestone island between Haiti and Jamaica, ringed by cliffs 20 metres and more high with no beaches. The refuge was created in 1999 and, per the establishing Federal Register notice, "consists of all of Navassa Island ... together with the full extent of its territorial sea, which currently extends outward to 12 miles", administered under the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act and "the general regulations governing the National Wildlife Refuge System published in Title 50, Subchapter C". Those regulations do the work: 50 CFR 26.21(a) makes entering the refuge without specific authorisation trespass and 50 CFR 27.21 prohibits taking any animal, while 50 CFR 32.7 opens no refuge in these islands to sport fishing. The Fish and Wildlife Service states "Navassa Island NWR is closed to the public" and provides no visitor services. The Pacific monument regulations do not reach Navassa; the refuge rules alone make spearfishing prohibited in its waters out to 12 miles.

On the coast

Location

Approximate reference point for this zone. See the full picture on the interactive map.

18.3952°N, 75.0560°W

View on the map

Source

This zone is documented in the official source below.

Before you dive

License for United States Minor Outlying Islands

Whether you need a license to spearfish here, and how to get one.

License requiredvia U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office

Special Use Permits are issued by the refuge manager of the relevant refuge complex (Pacific Reefs National Wildlife Refuge Complex for the Pacific units; Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex, based at Cabo Rojo, for Navassa). Monument fishing permits are applied for through NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office as described in 50 CFR 665.13. In practice these permits are issued for research, management and (at Palmyra) catch-and-release bone-fishing, not for spearfishing.

Get your license

Opens the official portal · ecfr.gov

← All spearfishing rules for United States Minor Outlying Islands

RevoiceLab — AI voiceover & media translation in 60+ languages