United States of America

Spearfishing means fishing for, attempting to fish for, catching or attempting to catch fish in tidal waters by any person with a spear or a powerhead (see 50 CFR 600.10).

Powerhead means any device with an explosive charge, usually attached to a spear gun, spear, pole, or stick, that may or may not fire a projectile upon contact.

In the Key Largo and Looe Key Existing Management Areas the following activities are prohibited: "Spearfishing." and "Possession of spearfishing equipment, except while passing through without interruption."

Spearing: a general term that includes bow fishing, gigging, spearfishing (underwater), or the use of any other device to capture a fish by piercing its body. Spearfishing: the catching or taking of a fish through the instrumentality of a hand or mechanically propelled, single or multi-pronged spear or lance, barbed or barbless, operated by a person swimming at or below the surface of the water.

Harvest with the use of powerheads, bangsticks or rebreathers is prohibited in state waters, except that rebreathers are allowed for the harvest of lionfish. Spearing is prohibited within 100 yards of any designated public bathing beaches, commercial or public fishing piers, or portions of bridges where fishing is allowed; and within 100 feet of the unsubmerged portion of any jetty, except that spearing is allowed along the last 500 yards of any jetty that extends more than 1,500 yards from the shoreline. Spearing is prohibited within the upper Keys no-spearfishing zone, which includes all state waters from the Miami-Dade County line down to and including Long Key. Spearing is prohibited for any species (freshwater or marine) in freshwater; possession of spearfishing equipment in or on freshwater is also prohibited.

A bow may be used to take any species of fish that is: NOT listed as a game fish and NOT listed as an endangered or threatened species. Bows are legal for taking non-game fishes such as gar, buffalo, mullet and sheepshead. Fish may be taken with longbow, recurved bow, compound bow, or crossbow. A freshwater, saltwater, or all-water license package is required to bow fish in Texas public waters.

No person shall offer for sale, sell, or have custody, control, or possession of for purposes of offering for sale or selling billfish or products containing billfish. ... [Definition] the term 'billfish' means any fish of the species Makaira nigricans (blue marlin); Kajikia audax (striped marlin); Istiompax indica (black marlin); Istiophorus platypterus (sailfish); Tetrapturus angustirostris (shortbill spearfish); Kajikia albida (white marlin); Tetrapturus georgii (roundscale spearfish); Tetrapturus belone (Mediterranean spearfish); and Tetrapturus pfluegeri (longbill spearfish); but does not include the species Xiphias gladius (swordfish).

Engage in or attempt to engage in SCUBA spearfishing, possess both SCUBA gear and a spear at the same time, or possess SCUBA gear and any specimen of speared aquatic life at the same time.