Caribbean spiny lobster

Fish · Last reviewed 2026-08-16

A clawless, long-antennaed, gregarious tropical lobster taken by hand and snare on breath-hold across the Caribbean — a different animal, a different fishery and a different rulebook from the clawed lobster of northern Europe.

Safety

Injury while handling fish — Can cause injury needing treatment

The carapace and antennae carry sharp forward-facing spines, and the animal escapes by flipping its tail violently backwards, dragging those spines across whatever is holding it. Hands are cut and punctured, and puncture wounds acquired in warm seawater are prone to aggressive infection.

What reduces it: Wear gloves. Grip across the carapace from above, behind the horns, rather than by an antenna. Expect the tail flip rather than being surprised by it. Clean any puncture properly and seek medical advice if it becomes inflamed — marine wound infections progress fast.

Worse when:

Reaching blind under a ledge for an animal that cannot be seen.
Handling without gloves, which is common in warm water.
Being far from medical care, which much of this fishery is.

Shallow water blackout and breath-hold loss of consciousness — Can cause serious injury or death

Lobster hunting encourages exactly the behaviour that causes shallow water blackout: repeated dives with short surface intervals, strong physical exertion while holding an animal that is fighting, and a powerful incentive to stay down a few seconds longer to secure a catch already in hand.

What reduces it: Dive one up, one down, with a buddy actively watching every dive. Never hyperventilate. Take full surface intervals even when animals are being found, and accept losing a lobster rather than extending a dive to keep it. Exertion at depth shortens a breath-hold far more than most divers expect.

Worse when:

A productive ledge, where dive frequency rises and surface intervals shorten.
Struggling with a large animal at depth, which raises oxygen consumption sharply.
Diving alone, which removes the only thing that makes a blackout survivable.

Fish welfare — Can cause injury needing treatment

Egg-bearing females are conspicuous, easily taken and protected throughout the range. Separately, the evidence for decapod sentience is substantial, and the customary dispatch methods — boiling alive, or leaving animals to die in air — are those the reviews recommend against.

What reduces it: Check the underside of the tail before taking anything and return any animal carrying eggs. Measure carapace length before taking rather than afterwards. Kill animals intended for the table quickly and deliberately rather than by boiling alive or exposure.

Worse when:

Fishing near the breeding peak, when berried females are commonest.
Taking animals into a bag first and sorting later, by which point damage is done.

Precautions that always apply here

Never spearfish or freedive alone.
Dive one up, one down: one diver down, one on the surface actively watching, every single dive.
Never hyperventilate before a breath-hold. It delays the urge to breathe without adding oxygen, which is precisely the mechanism behind shallow water blackout.
Handle spined and venomous species with the spines controlled. Know which local species have them before you fish, not afterwards.

FishingHQ's records on freediving for lobster and taking crustaceans on breath-hold were written around the European lobster: a cold-water, clawed, solitary animal caught almost entirely in pots. Across the Caribbean, Florida and the wider tropical Atlantic, the animal people actually dive for is this one, and almost nothing transfers.

IT HAS NO CLAWS. A spiny lobster's defence is a heavily spined carapace, two enormously long whip antennae, and a violent backward tail flip. It cannot pinch, which makes it safer to handle and considerably harder to hold.

IT IS GREGARIOUS WHERE THE EUROPEAN LOBSTER IS SOLITARY. Spiny lobsters shelter communally under ledges, in reef holes and under structure, often several or many together, with antennae protruding. A single den can hold a group, which is why the fishery concentrates so sharply on known structure.

AND IT IS ONE OF THE MOST TIGHTLY REGULATED ANIMALS IN THIS CATALOGUE. Closed seasons, minimum carapace sizes, bans on taking egg-bearing females, restrictions on spearing, permit requirements and no-take reserves are all normal across its range, they differ between jurisdictions that are a short boat ride apart, and they are actively enforced. This is not a species to approach on the assumption that anything is allowed.

IT ALSO DOES SOMETHING GENUINELY REMARKABLE: in autumn, spiny lobsters form single-file queues of dozens of animals and march across open bottom, each keeping antennal contact with the one in front.

Identification

FishingHQ holds no photograph of this species whose identity and licensing it can vouch for, so it is not showing one. Misidentified fish photographs teach identification wrongly, and a picture with an unchecked caption would be worse than none. The identification points below are what to look at instead.

Scientific name: Panulirus argus
Family: Palinuridae
Water: Saltwater
Conservation status: Vulnerable
Regions: Caribbean, Central & South America

NO CLAWS. This is the first and clearest difference from the European and American clawed lobsters. A spiny lobster has no pincers of any kind.
TWO VERY LONG, THICK, SPINY ANTENNAE, often longer than the body, and a pair of stout horns projecting forward over the eyes.
A heavily spined carapace, brownish to greenish, with conspicuous large PALE SPOTS scattered along the abdominal segments — the spotting is characteristic of this species.
Antennae protruding from beneath a ledge or reef hole are how the animal is normally detected; the body is usually hidden.
Frequently found in groups, unlike the solitary clawed lobsters of colder seas.
EGGS, WHEN PRESENT, ARE CARRIED UNDER THE TAIL as a conspicuous orange or brown mass. A female in that condition is protected essentially everywhere in the range.

Size

Typical: 20–35 cm total length and 0.5–1.5 kg.
Large: Over 2 kg is a good one.

Exceptional: Around 45 cm total length and something over 5 kg is the reported upper end; animals of that size are old and now uncommon in accessible water.

Lifecycle and reproduction

Extraordinarily long-range for a bottom-living animal. Females carry fertilised eggs under the tail for several weeks before releasing larvae, which enter a flattened, transparent, leaf-like phyllosoma stage and drift in open ocean for many months — a planktonic period measured in the region of six months to a year, during which larvae can be carried hundreds or thousands of kilometres. They then transform into a swimming puerulus stage that seeks out shallow coastal habitat, settling into seagrass, mangrove and algal cover as juveniles before moving out to reef and ledge habitat as adults. Growth proceeds by moulting, and maturity comes after a few years.

The extended oceanic larval phase means a population is not self-contained: the lobsters on one island's reef may have originated hundreds of kilometres upstream, and local protection alone cannot guarantee local recruitment. That connectivity is why management of this species is genuinely regional and why closed seasons and no-take reserves are used as much as size limits. Egg-bearing females are protected across essentially the whole range, and the nursery dependence on shallow seagrass and mangrove means coastal habitat loss reaches the fishery years before it shows up in catches.

Feeding and senses

A nocturnal omnivore and scavenger taking molluscs, worms, small crustaceans, carrion and algae, emerging from shelter after dark to forage over reef, rubble and seagrass and returning to a den before light. The practical consequence for anyone looking for them is that daytime searching is searching for shelter, not for feeding animals — the fishery is a structure-hunting fishery conducted in daylight for animals that will not be out until night.

Chemoreception and touch dominate, delivered largely through the long antennae and the smaller antennules, which detect water-borne scent and physical contact. Vision is poor by comparison and adapted to low light. Spiny lobsters also produce sound — a rasping stridulation made by rubbing a structure at the base of the antenna — used in defence and communication, and they are capable of magnetic orientation, which is part of how the autumn queuing migrations navigate.

Through the year

Strongly seasonal in behaviour and, almost everywhere, in law. The autumn mass migrations — single-file queues of dozens of animals marching across open bottom, each maintaining antennal contact with the one ahead, typically triggered by the first strong cool-water storms — are the most conspicuous seasonal event. Closed seasons are imposed across the range and generally coincide with peak reproduction; their dates differ between jurisdictions and are revised, so the season is a question for the local authority rather than a fact to be remembered.

Distribution

Western Atlantic from North Carolina and Bermuda through Florida, the Gulf, the whole Caribbean and the Bahamas, south to Brazil. Occupies coral reef, ledge, rubble and rocky habitat from the shallows to around 90 m, with juveniles dependent on shallow seagrass and mangrove nursery habitat. Listed by the IUCN as Vulnerable, reflecting sustained heavy fishing pressure across a range where it is among the most valuable fishery species, together with the loss of the shallow nursery habitat juveniles require.

This is a biological range — where the species occurs, not a prediction that you will catch one. To browse the fishing geography FishingHQ holds, start at fishing places.

Why anglers care

One of the most important recreational and commercial quarry animals in the tropical western Atlantic, and the animal that recreational diving in the Caribbean and Florida most often has as its purpose. The recreational fishery is a breath-hold and shallow-dive fishery conducted by hand, by tickle stick and net, or by snare, and in many jurisdictions spearing this species is specifically prohibited. It matters to FishingHQ because the catalogue's existing lobster records describe a cold-water clawed animal taken in pots, which is not the fishery most readers searching for lobster diving are asking about.

Handling and returning

The good news is that a spiny lobster has no claws and cannot pinch. Everything else about handling it is about the spines and the tail. THE CARAPACE AND ANTENNAE ARE COVERED IN SHARP FORWARD-FACING SPINES that will cut hands badly, particularly when an animal is struggling; gloves are near-universal in this fishery, and a puncture from a lobster spine in warm water is a genuine infection risk. THE TAIL FLIP IS POWERFUL and is how most animals are lost and most hands are cut — the animal drives backwards violently, dragging spines across whatever is holding it. Grip across the carapace from above, behind the horns, rather than by an antenna: antennae break off, which loses the animal and injures it. On welfare and on law together: NEVER TAKE AN EGG-BEARING FEMALE. The orange or brown mass under the tail is unmistakable, and taking one is prohibited essentially throughout the range as well as being straightforwardly damaging. Measure before taking, not after — minimum sizes are set on carapace length and are enforced. Because decapod sentience evidence is now substantial, an animal intended for the table should be killed quickly rather than boiled alive or left to die in air.

A different animal from the lobster this catalogue already held

Somebody searching for how to dive for lobster in the Caribbean and finding a record about European lobsters has been badly served, because almost nothing carries across.

NO CLAWS AT ALL. The European lobster's defining feature is a pair of powerful asymmetric claws — a crusher and a cutter — and handling one is largely about managing them. A spiny lobster has none. It cannot pinch, and the hazard is entirely spines and the tail flip.

GREGARIOUS RATHER THAN SOLITARY. European lobsters are territorial and generally alone in a hole. Spiny lobsters shelter communally, sometimes many to a ledge, antennae protruding. That changes the search completely: finding one often means finding several, and known structure holds animals repeatedly.

TAKEN BY HAND, NOT BY POT. The northern fishery is overwhelmingly potting. The tropical recreational fishery is a diving one — by hand, with a tickle stick and net, or with a snare. In many jurisdictions SPEARING THIS SPECIES IS SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITED, a rule that surprises spearfishers arriving from elsewhere.

AND THE LARVAL PHASE IS ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SCALE. A European lobster's larvae spend weeks in the plankton. A spiny lobster's phyllosoma larva — flat, transparent, leaf-shaped, and utterly unlike the adult — drifts in open ocean for something in the region of six months to a year, potentially travelling hundreds or thousands of kilometres before returning to shallow water as a swimming puerulus and settling into seagrass and mangrove.

THAT ONE FACT REORGANISES THE MANAGEMENT. Because larvae arrive from far upstream, a population is not self-contained. An island that protects its own lobsters perfectly still depends on recruitment produced elsewhere, and an island that fishes hard exports the consequences downstream. It is why management here is regional, why no-take reserves do heavy lifting alongside size limits, and why 'there are plenty on our reef' is not evidence the fishery is sound.

THE NURSERY DEPENDENCE MATTERS TOO. Juveniles need shallow seagrass and mangrove, and coastal development that removes those reaches the fishery years later.

AND THE AUTUMN QUEUES ARE REAL. Triggered typically by the first strong cool-water storms, spiny lobsters form single-file lines of dozens of animals and march across open bottom, each keeping antennal contact with the one in front. It is one of the more remarkable behaviours in this catalogue, and it also concentrates animals in the open where they are exceptionally vulnerable.

NOTHING HERE STATES WHETHER THIS ANIMAL MAY BE TAKEN WHERE YOU ARE. Tropical fisheries rules are frequently set island by island, state by state or park by park rather than nationally, several of these species are protected somewhere in their range, marine reserves are common and their boundaries are not obvious from the water, and the rules are revised. Ask the local fisheries authority or park authority before fishing, spearing or gathering.

Scientific evidence

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic identification characters, family placement, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The global Red List category and the population assessment behind it, which is a statement about the species rather than about any managed fishery.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution, maximum size, depth range, habitat association and biology as compiled for the species.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 1995 (Standards body)Relied on for: Principles for responsible capture, including selectivity, the treatment of berried and undersized animals, and the precautionary approach.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Finding them, holding them, and the rules that are actually enforced

This is a structure-hunting fishery with an unusually strict rulebook, and both halves need taking seriously.

LOOK FOR ANTENNAE, NOT LOBSTERS. In daylight the animal is under a ledge, in a reef hole or beneath structure, and what is visible is a pair of long spiny antennae protruding from shadow. The body is usually hidden. Working ledges, undercuts and rubble methodically is the whole search.

DAYTIME SEARCHING IS SHELTER SEARCHING. Spiny lobsters feed at night and are in a den by first light, so a daytime diver is never looking for a foraging animal.

GRIP ACROSS THE CARAPACE FROM ABOVE, behind the horns. Never lift by an antenna: antennae break off, which loses the animal and leaves it injured. The tail flip is powerful, backwards, and is how most animals escape and most hands get cut.

WEAR GLOVES. The carapace and antennae carry sharp forward-facing spines, a struggling animal drags them across whatever holds it, and a spine puncture in warm water is a real infection risk rather than a scratch.

NOW THE RULES, WHICH ARE NOT OPTIONAL AND NOT UNIFORM. This is among the most tightly managed animals in this catalogue, and the measures differ between jurisdictions a short boat ride apart. What is normal across the range:

CLOSED SEASONS, generally aligned with peak reproduction, with dates that differ by jurisdiction and are revised.

MINIMUM CARAPACE SIZES, measured on the carapace rather than overall length, with a gauge — and measured BEFORE the animal is taken, not after.

AN ABSOLUTE PROHIBITION ON EGG-BEARING FEMALES. The orange-brown egg mass under the tail is unmistakable. Taking one is prohibited essentially throughout the range.

RESTRICTIONS ON METHOD, including outright bans on spearing this species in many places, and rules on what gear may be used.

PERMITS, BAG LIMITS AND NO-TAKE RESERVES, with reserve boundaries that are not visible from the water and are enforced.

FISHINGHQ CANNOT TELL YOU WHICH OF THESE APPLIES WHERE YOU ARE, and would be doing something dangerous if it tried. These rules change, they are set locally, and enforcement is active. Ask the local fisheries or park authority before diving.

ON DISPATCH. The evidence for sentience in decapod crustaceans is now substantial enough that formal reviews recommend against boiling alive and against leaving animals to die in air. An animal taken for the table should be killed quickly and deliberately.

Authoritative guidance

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 1995 (Standards body)Relied on for: Principles for responsible capture, including selectivity, the treatment of berried and undersized animals, and the precautionary approach.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Review of the evidence of sentience in cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans — LSE Consulting, LSE Enterprise Ltd, The London School of Economics and Political Science, 2021 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: The evidence for sentience in cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans, and the handling and killing practices the review recommends against.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic identification characters, family placement, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of species behaviour and regional fishing practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Where to go next

How it is caught

What these connections rest on (2)

Practitioner consensus — 2 connections

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

Freediving for lobster
A statement about how a species is taken, which is practice convention rather than biology and is labelled as such.
- BlueWater Hunting and Freediving — BlueWater Freedivers, Ventura, California, 1995 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: Reef and blue-water breath-hold hunting practice, including quarry behaviour, approach, catch handling and the judgement involved in taking a shot.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of quarry behaviour and regional fishing practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Shore diving
A statement about how a species is taken, which is practice convention rather than biology and is labelled as such.
- BlueWater Hunting and Freediving — BlueWater Freedivers, Ventura, California, 1995 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: Reef and blue-water breath-hold hunting practice, including quarry behaviour, approach, catch handling and the judgement involved in taking a shot.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of quarry behaviour and regional fishing practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Where it lives

What these connections rest on (2)

Scientific evidence — 2 connections

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

Coastal lagoons
A distributional claim about where a species is found, resting on the standard identification and compilation sources rather than on fishing report.
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, habitat association, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution, maximum size, depth range, habitat association and biology as compiled for the species.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Coral reef
A distributional claim about where a species is found, resting on the standard identification and compilation sources rather than on fishing report.
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, habitat association, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution, maximum size, depth range, habitat association and biology as compiled for the species.States this directlyPassage read and verified

Understanding this fish

What these connections rest on (3)

Scientific evidence — 1 connection

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

Bivalve and gastropod molluscs as prey
A dietary claim recorded at GROUP level against a modelled prey concept, because the sources describe the prey as a group and this catalogue holds no species record from the right ocean to point at.
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, habitat association, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution, maximum size, depth range, habitat association and biology as compiled for the species.States this directlyPassage read and verified

Practitioner consensus — 2 connections

Handling crabs and lobsters: alive, and then not
A record pointing at the practice or mechanism that explains it, so the explanation lives once rather than being restated on every quarry page.
- BlueWater Hunting and Freediving — BlueWater Freedivers, Ventura, California, 1995 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: Reef and blue-water breath-hold hunting practice, including quarry behaviour, approach, catch handling and the judgement involved in taking a shot.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of quarry behaviour and regional fishing practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Taking crustaceans on breath-hold
A record pointing at the practice or mechanism that explains it, so the explanation lives once rather than being restated on every quarry page.
- BlueWater Hunting and Freediving — BlueWater Freedivers, Ventura, California, 1995 (Practitioner report)Relied on for: Reef and blue-water breath-hold hunting practice, including quarry behaviour, approach, catch handling and the judgement involved in taking a shot.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- General angling website restatements of established technique — Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of quarry behaviour and regional fishing practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Told apart from

European lobsterThe comparison that prevents a reader being badly served. No claws against powerful claws; gregarious against solitary; taken by hand on breath-hold against taken in pots; a larval phase measured in months at sea against one measured in weeks. Almost nothing transfers between the two fisheries.

What these connections rest on (1)

Practitioner consensus — 1 connection

European lobster
Two records a reader will hold together, because one is routinely assumed to describe the other's fishery and it does not.
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, habitat association, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution, maximum size, depth range, habitat association and biology as compiled for the species.States this directlyPassage read and verified

Safety reading

What these connections rest on (2)

Authoritative guidance — 2 connections

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

Breath-hold blackout
A hazard the species genuinely presents, joined to the record that explains how to manage it.
- NOAA Diving Manual: Diving for Science and Technology — National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diving practice and marine hazard management, including behaviour around large marine animals and the management of envenomation injuries.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Handling fish safely
A hazard the species genuinely presents, joined to the record that explains how to manage it.
- NOAA Diving Manual: Diving for Science and Technology — National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diving practice and marine hazard management, including behaviour around large marine animals and the management of envenomation injuries.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Environment and conservation

What these connections rest on (2)

Scientific evidence — 2 connections

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

Fish stocks and sustainability
A conservation claim about a species with a documented assessment, joined to the environmental issue it exemplifies.
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The global Red List category and the assessment behind it, including the reproductive and habitat factors driving it.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 1995 (Standards body)Relied on for: Principles for responsible capture, including selectivity, the treatment of berried and undersized animals, and the precautionary approach.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Marine protected areas and spearfishing
A conservation claim about a species with a documented assessment, joined to the environmental issue it exemplifies.
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The global Red List category and the assessment behind it, including the reproductive and habitat factors driving it.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 1995 (Standards body)Relied on for: Principles for responsible capture, including selectivity, the treatment of berried and undersized animals, and the precautionary approach.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Check the rules before you fish

Fishing laws, bylaws, access rules, seasons, bait restrictions and permitted methods vary by location and can change. Check the current rules from the relevant authority and the water you intend to fish before fishing.

Check with:

Current national or regional law for where you are fishing
Current local bylaws
The relevant fisheries authority
The landowner, club or fishery whose water it is
Any restrictions specific to the species or the method you intend to use

Sources for this page

FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic identification characters, family placement, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The global Red List category and the population assessment behind it, which is a statement about the species rather than about any managed fishery.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Distribution, maximum size, depth range, habitat association and biology as compiled for the species.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, 1995 (Standards body)Relied on for: Principles for responsible capture, including selectivity, the treatment of berried and undersized animals, and the precautionary approach.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Review of the evidence of sentience in cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans — LSE Consulting, LSE Enterprise Ltd, The London School of Economics and Political Science, 2021 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: The evidence for sentience in cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans, and the handling and killing practices the review recommends against.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.

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