Freediving, Spearfishing & Environment by Neels Swanepoel

Some freedivers apply their ability in the water to the sport of spearfishing. This is an extreme and exciting sport in which you place yourself in an environment where you are not necessarily at the top of the food-chain. A successful spearfisherman (or woman) needs an acute awareness of different fish species’ behavior and an understanding of the ocean and its inhabitants.

You cannot spend much time in a place as magical as our ocean before you develop a great affinity and respect for its beauty and biodiversity. The spearo is in the fortunate position to leave only his footprints behind and take only fish selected according to size and species. Add to this the fact that the ocean has a way of hiding her treasures by rough seas, churned water or cold and dirty currents from time to time, and you’ll find that the environmental impact of the sport is minimal in our area. In fact, the impact of spearfishing is so small in our country that SAMLA (South African Marine Line-fishing Association) does not register the catch of spearos. For the sake of percentages it is worth noting that a study done by the California Department of Fish and Game found that Spearfishermen are the least-impacting ocean hunters, taking less than 0.5% of the catch. The breakdown is as follows: Commercial – 93%, Sports anglers – 6.7%, Spearfishermen – 0.3%. Also, there is no ‘by-catch’ (unwanted and undersized fish taken and killed unintentionally) where, for example, 1 ton shrimp/prawns trawled has a wasted by-catch of 10 tons!

A spearfishing license can be obtained from any post office for R70 (1 year license)

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