Slide 1

In a context where many fish species that live in our seas are suffering from a huge fishing pressure it's paramount to promote a sustainable and responsible spearfishing practice. Accounting for this, IFSUA invites all spearfishers to adopt the following basic guidelines and promote them within their colleagues:

+ Diversify your target species. Do not focus always on the same species as it could be specially vulnerable.It's important that you don't put too much pressure on species that are in spawning season.

+ Diversify sizes. Catching always same-sized fish could have important consequences on population structure of local stocks. You must take into account also that there are species that change their sex deppending on their size, so we would be contributing to limit the quantity of individuals of that species.

+ Observe always the first sexual maturity size. All species have a size from which they are sexually mature. Do not catch smaller individuals and they'll be able to spawn at least once! In this site we present you a list with those sizes for the most popular species.

+ Do not catch more fish than those you are able to eat in a short period of time. Although bag limits may be higher leave the fish for the next fishing day. They will have more opportunities to spawn and you more chances to catch them.

+ Coming close to the end of your fishing day avoid shooting difficult potential catches. You may end having to leave them badly wounded because you don't have time enough to remove them from the cave.

+ Avoid shooting fish in difficult caves, as if you are not able to remove them the fish will die and the cave would be blocked to other eventual inhabitants.

+ Join a spearfishing club or association. This will allow you to know other colleagues and learn from experienced ones.

+ Sign up for a spearfishing course. You will learn basic security measures to minimize risks.

+ If you use a boat to reach your fishing spot avoid anchoring on rocky bottoms, on calcareous structures (coralligenous) or on plants like Posidonia oceanica. Search, whenever is possible, sandy bottoms or mooring buoys.

+ When visiting new fishing spots, collect all the information about special regulations in the zone (marine protected areas, closing seasons, licensing...)

+ Make sure all your equipment is in perfect conditions. If not, there is high risk of loosing your catches, that will unnecessarily die.