Fishing places
Mediterranean and Black Sea
Almost no tide, clear water, and a species list that shares little with the Atlantic a few hundred miles west. Where European spearfishing is most established, and most tightly regulated.
Being listed here is not permission to fish. What that meansClose
Access, fishing rights, seasons, licences, local bylaws and permitted methods vary and can change. Check current access, permission, local regulations, closures and restrictions before you travel or fish. FishingHQ describes what the ground is and names who holds the answer; it does not hold the answer itself.
Find the authority for a jurisdiction · What FishingHQ does and does not cover
- 19 fishing regions and destinations
- 26 publicly documented places
Where to start
26 publicly documented fishing places across 19 coasts, islands and systems, under the 8 jurisdictions that administer them. Pick one and work down.
- Italy6 places across 2 coasts and systems
- France4 places across 2 coasts and systems
- Greece4 places across 2 coasts and systems
- Spain4 places across 2 coasts and systems
- Croatia2 places across 1 coast and systems
- Malta2 places across 1 coast and systems
- Slovenia2 places across 1 coast and systems
- The Balearic Islands2 places across 1 coast and systems
Every place, listed
26 publicly documented fishing places, under the jurisdiction that governs them and then the coast they belong to. This is the complete list — everything plotted on the map above is here, and nothing here needs the map to reach it.
Italy 6 places
Who to ask before fishing anywhere in Italy
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Inland fishing in Italy is administered by the region — and in some places by the province below it — so licences, seasons, methods and stocking arrangements differ across a boundary a visitor will not notice. Many waters additionally need a day permit from the managing association, and all of it changes. Check with the regional fisheries administration and the local association before going.
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Recreational sea fishing in Italy is registered nationally rather than licensed in the British sense, with quantity and species measures on top and separate treatment for underwater fishing, which has its own minimum age, its own equipment rules and its own prohibitions near bathers and moored craft. Marine protected areas along this coast carry zone-by-zone rules. Everything changes. Check the current position with the national fisheries ministry and the local port captaincy before going. This water is tidal and transitional, so the freshwater regime may also apply above the tidal limit: FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Inland fishing in Italy is administered by the region — and in some places by the province below it — so licences, seasons, methods and stocking arrangements differ across a boundary a visitor will not notice. Many waters additionally need a day permit from the managing association, and all of it changes. Check with the regional fisheries administration and the local association before going.
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Recreational sea fishing in Italy is registered nationally rather than licensed in the British sense, with quantity and species measures on top and separate treatment for underwater fishing, which has its own minimum age, its own equipment rules and its own prohibitions near bathers and moored craft. Marine protected areas along this coast carry zone-by-zone rules. Everything changes. Check the current position with the national fisheries ministry and the local port captaincy before going.
Italy 5 places
Eight thousand kilometres of Mediterranean coast, an Alpine river system at the other end of the same country, and a spearfishing tradition that shaped the equipment the rest of the world uses.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: shallow water blackout and breath-hold loss of consciousness, boat traffic and being seen, moving water and currents, cold water shock.
5 places on this coast
- The Portofino promontory headland · salt water · drowning and immersion, boat traffic and being seen
- The Venice lagoon estuary · brackish water
Lago di Garda
Lake · Fresh water
The largest of the Italian pre-Alpine lakes: a deep glacial trough with near-vertical rock walls and very deep water in the northern arm, opening into a wider shallower southern basin with gravel and weed margins.
Particular to this ground: cold water shock, weather and lightning.
The Po at Mantua
River reach · Fresh water
A wide, slow, warm reach of the Po across the Lombard plain, with sand and silt bed, embanked and straightened over centuries, oxbows and side channels behind the levees, and the Mincio entering from the lakes above Mantua.
Particular to this water: This is working water-management or navigation infrastructure, operated to a schedule set by its authority rather than by anything happening in the fishing, and access to it is that authority's decision.
The Po delta
Estuary · Brackish water
The mouth of Italy's largest river, built out into the northern Adriatic as a low fan of distributary channels, reed, brackish lagoon and reclaimed farmland, carrying a heavy sediment and nutrient load into a shallow sea.
Particular to this water: This ground lies in or beside a marine protected area whose zoning constrains fishing, diving, anchoring and collection independently of any licence, with rules that differ between zones and boundaries that are not visible from the water.
The Strait of Messina 1 place
A narrow channel where two seas at different levels exchange water twice a day, driving deep-sea fish to the surface and supporting a swordfish harpoon fishery of documented antiquity.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: moving water and currents, boat traffic and being seen.
1 place on this coast
- Punta del Faro, Messina tidal race · salt water · moving water and currents, boat traffic and being seen
France 4 places
Who to ask before fishing anywhere in France
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Recreational sea fishing in France is not generally licensed for shore angling, but national and European measures on species, sizes, quantities and gear apply, some species carry a declaration or marking requirement, and access to structures, beaches and shellfish grounds is governed locally. All of it changes. Check the current position with the maritime prefecture or the departmental directorate for the sea, and with the commune, before going.
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Recreational sea fishing in France is not generally licensed for shore angling, but national and European measures on species, sizes, quantities and gear apply, some species carry a declaration or marking requirement, and access to structures, beaches and shellfish grounds is governed locally. All of it changes. Check the current position with the maritime prefecture or the departmental directorate for the sea, and with the commune, before going. This water is tidal and transitional, so the freshwater regime may also apply above the tidal limit: FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Inland fishing in France runs through membership: an angler joins an approved local fishing association, which is affiliated to a departmental federation, and pays the national levy alongside it — so the permission and the licence arrive together and are bought from the association rather than from a state counter. Waters, seasons, methods and reciprocity arrangements differ by department and change. Check with the departmental fishing federation and the local association before going.
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Inland fishing in France runs through membership: an angler joins an approved local fishing association, which is affiliated to a departmental federation, and pays the national levy alongside it — so the permission and the licence arrive together and are bought from the association rather than from a state counter. Waters, seasons, methods and reciprocity arrangements differ by department and change. Check with the departmental fishing federation and the local association before going.
France 3 places
Three coasts on two seas plus one of Europe's largest inland fisheries, governed by a licensing system that treats fresh water and salt water as almost unrelated activities — and a shore-gathering tradition with no British equivalent.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: tides and being cut off, moving water and currents.
3 places on this coast
- The Calanques cove · salt water · drowning and immersion, boat traffic and being seen
The Étang de Thau
Estuary · Brackish water
A large shallow coastal lagoon on the French Mediterranean coast, separated from the sea by a sand bar and exchanging through channels at Sète, with soft mud, extensive eelgrass and an oyster and mussel culture occupying much of its area.
Particular to this water: Shellfish harvesting areas are classified for food safety and are opened and closed on monitoring results a gatherer cannot see. Neither cooking nor appearance removes a biotoxin. Check the current classification with the responsible authority before taking anything.
The Rhône at Lyon
Confluence · Fresh water
The meeting of the Rhône and the Saône in the middle of Lyon: two large rivers of quite different character — one cold, fast and Alpine-fed, the other slow, warm and turbid — joining between engineered quays in the city centre.
Particular to this water: This is working water-management or navigation infrastructure, operated to a schedule set by its authority rather than by anything happening in the fishing, and access to it is that authority's decision.
Mediterranean 1 place
A nearly enclosed, low-tide, historically overfished sea with the oldest continuous fishing culture in the world and the strongest spearfishing tradition in Europe.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: boat traffic and being seen, shallow water blackout and breath-hold loss of consciousness.
1 place on this coast
The Gulf of Lion shelf edge
Reef · Salt water
The outer edge of the widest continental shelf in the Mediterranean, cut by a series of submarine canyons that reach in towards the coast, with soft sediment on the shelf and hard ground and coralligenous growth on the canyon walls.
Particular to this ground: weather and lightning.
Greece 4 places
Who to ask before fishing anywhere in Greece
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Recreational sea fishing in Greece is permitted through the port authority rather than a national angling body, boat and underwater fishing carry their own separate permissions, and underwater fishing is subject to distance rules from bathers, harbours and moored craft and to equipment prohibitions. Archaeological protection closes water in places for reasons that have nothing to do with fisheries. All of it changes. Check the current position with the local port authority before going.
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Recreational sea fishing in Greece is permitted through the port authority rather than a national angling body, boat and underwater fishing carry their own separate permissions, and underwater fishing is subject to distance rules from bathers, harbours and moored craft and to equipment prohibitions. Archaeological protection closes water in places for reasons that have nothing to do with fisheries. All of it changes. Check the current position with the local port authority before going. This water is tidal and transitional, so the freshwater regime may also apply above the tidal limit: FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Greek fresh water is limited, seasonal and administered by the region and the decentralised administration, with protected wetlands and salmonid streams treated separately again. Check with the regional authority before going.
Greece 2 places
Fifteen thousand kilometres of coast, six thousand islands, a sea that is nearly tideless and among the least productive on earth — and permission that comes from the harbourmaster rather than from any fisheries body.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: drowning and immersion, shallow water blackout and breath-hold loss of consciousness, weather and lightning.
2 places on this coast
- Cape Sounion headland · salt water · drowning and immersion
The Amvrakikos Gulf
Bay · Brackish water
An almost enclosed gulf in western Greece entered through a narrow shallow channel at Preveza, with soft mud bottom, extensive lagoons and reedbeds around its edges, and water that is brackish and stratified rather than fully marine.
Particular to this water: This ground lies in or beside a marine protected area whose zoning constrains fishing, diving, anchoring and collection independently of any licence, with rules that differ between zones and boundaries that are not visible from the water. Shellfish harvesting areas are classified for food safety and are opened and closed on monitoring results a gatherer cannot see. Neither cooking nor appearance removes a biotoxin. Check the current classification with the responsible authority before taking anything.
The Aegean and Crete 2 places
Several thousand islands in a warm, clear, nutrient-poor sea with almost no tide and a wind that blows for days — and a fishery whose problem is that everything in it has been fished for four thousand years.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: weather and lightning, shallow water blackout and breath-hold loss of consciousness.
2 places on this coast
- The south coast of Crete rock mark · salt water · drowning and immersion, cliffs and rock platforms
- The west coast of Naxos beach section · salt water · boat traffic and being seen
Spain 4 places
Who to ask before fishing anywhere in Spain
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here, and in Spain the first question is which administration to ask. Recreational sea fishing, underwater fishing and shellfish gathering are licensed by the autonomous community rather than by the state, with separate licences for each and different validity in each community, and state and European measures apply on top. Everything changes. Establish which autonomous community this water belongs to, and check the current position with its fisheries administration, before going.
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Inland fishing in Spain is licensed by the autonomous community, and a great many waters additionally require a separate permit issued per water and frequently per day, often by ballot on the better rivers. Seasons, methods and permit systems differ between neighbouring communities and change. Establish which community administers this water and check with it before going.
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here, and in Spain the first question is which administration to ask. Recreational sea fishing, underwater fishing and shellfish gathering are licensed by the autonomous community rather than by the state, with separate licences for each and different validity in each community, and state and European measures apply on top. Everything changes. Establish which autonomous community this water belongs to, and check the current position with its fisheries administration, before going. This water is tidal and transitional, so the freshwater regime may also apply above the tidal limit: FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Inland fishing in Spain is licensed by the autonomous community, and a great many waters additionally require a separate permit issued per water and frequently per day, often by ballot on the better rivers. Seasons, methods and permit systems differ between neighbouring communities and change. Establish which community administers this water and check with it before going.
Spain 2 places
Two seas, seventeen fishing administrations and one of Europe's largest shore and spearfishing cultures — where the first question is never what the rule is but which government sets it.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: cliffs and rock platforms, shallow water blackout and breath-hold loss of consciousness, boat traffic and being seen.
2 places on this coast
- Cap de Creus headland · salt water · drowning and immersion, cliffs and rock platforms
Cabo de Gata
Headland · Salt water
A volcanic headland on the arid south-eastern corner of Spain, with dark rock cliffs, boulder falls, small sand and shingle coves between them and extensive posidonia meadow offshore.
Particular to this ground: drowning and immersion.
Particular to this water: This ground lies in or beside a marine protected area whose zoning constrains fishing, diving, anchoring and collection independently of any licence, with rules that differ between zones and boundaries that are not visible from the water. Underwater fishing is licensed and regulated separately from rod fishing throughout this jurisdiction, with its own age, equipment and distance requirements, and holding a rod licence is not permission to spearfish.
The River Ebro 2 places
Spain's largest river by flow, dammed into a chain of vast reservoirs, and the water that made wels catfish a destination fishery for northern European anglers — almost entirely on species that are not native to it.
2 places on this coast
- The Ebro at Mequinensa reservoir · fresh water
- The Ebro delta estuary · brackish water
Croatia 2 places
Who to ask before fishing anywhere in Croatia
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Croatia sells recreational sea fishing licences for fixed periods — a day, several days, a year — and treats underwater fishing as a separate category with its own licence, its own minimum age and its own prohibitions, including on the use of breathing apparatus. Protected areas, national parks and species measures apply on top and change. Check the current position with the ministry responsible for fisheries before going.
The Croatian Adriatic 2 places
A thousand islands on drowned limestone, the clearest coastal water in the Mediterranean, almost no tide and a fierce local wind — and the densest spearfishing culture in Europe.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: shallow water blackout and breath-hold loss of consciousness, weather and lightning, boat traffic and being seen.
2 places on this coast
- Cape Kamenjak headland · salt water · drowning and immersion
- The Kornati islands island · salt water · drowning and immersion, weather and lightning
Malta 2 places
Who to ask before fishing anywhere in Malta
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Malta licenses recreational boat fishing and underwater fishing separately, underwater fishing carries its own age, equipment and area rules, and the islands' marine protected areas and bunkering zones constrain where anything may happen. Species measures — bluefin tuna above all — are managed internationally and change every season. Check the current position with the department responsible for fisheries and aquaculture before going.
Malta and Gozo 2 places
A small, intensely visited limestone archipelago in the middle of the Mediterranean, where everything is reachable on foot or by bus, the diving sector is enormous relative to the size of the place, and the local fishing culture is far older than the tourism.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: cliffs and rock platforms, boat traffic and being seen, shallow water blackout and breath-hold loss of consciousness.
2 places on this coast
- Delimara Point headland · salt water · drowning and immersion
Dwejra, Gozo
Rock mark · Salt water
A limestone coast on the western side of Gozo with a collapsed cave forming a small enclosed lagoon connected to the sea by a tunnel through the cliff, boulder and rock shelf at the water's edge and deep clear water beyond.
Particular to this ground: drowning and immersion.
Particular to this water: This ground lies in or beside a marine protected area whose zoning constrains fishing, diving, anchoring and collection independently of any licence, with rules that differ between zones and boundaries that are not visible from the water. Underwater fishing is licensed and regulated separately from rod fishing throughout this jurisdiction, with its own age, equipment and distance requirements, and holding a rod licence is not permission to spearfish.
Slovenia 2 places
Who to ask before fishing anywhere in Slovenia
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. Slovenia's coast is short and its recreational sea fishing is licensed by the state, with species and gear measures and with a protected landscape covering part of it. Check the current position with the ministry responsible for agriculture, forestry and food before going.
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here, and Slovenia's inland arrangement is unusual enough to be worth stating plainly: the fishing on each stretch of river is managed by a fishing family — a local association holding the concession — which sells a permit for that water for a day at a time, sets the methods, and on the marble trout waters runs catch-and-release and barbless conditions as a term of the permit. Beats, quotas and seasons change. Check with the fishing family managing the water before going.
The Soča and Slovenia's Adriatic rivers 2 places
An isolated Adriatic drainage in the Julian Alps holding a salmonid that exists almost nowhere else — the marble trout — reduced to a handful of pure populations and rebuilt from them.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: moving water and currents.
2 places on this coast
- The Slovenian coast at Piran headland · salt water
- The Soča at Most na Soči confluence · fresh water · moving water and currents
The Balearic Islands 2 places
Who to ask before fishing anywhere in The Balearic Islands
FishingHQ does not know the current access position here. The Balearic Islands license their own recreational sea, boat and underwater fishing, and the archipelago carries an extensive network of marine reserves and seagrass protections with rules that differ reserve by reserve. Measures, seasons and reserve boundaries change. Check the current position with the Balearic government's fisheries administration before going.
Balearic Islands 2 places
A near-tideless archipelago on its own shelf, with water clear enough that sight matters more than scent, extensive seagrass meadows that decide where everything lives, and a squid and cephalopod tradition that defines the local fishing year.
Severe hazards of this coast, inherited by every place under it: cliffs and rock platforms, boat traffic and being seen.
2 places on this coast
- Formentera and Es Freus sound or strait · salt water · boat traffic and being seen
- The north coast of Menorca rock mark · salt water · drowning and immersion, cliffs and rock platforms
Also covered, with no individual places under them yet
Full guides to coasts, islands and systems in Mediterranean and Black Sea whose places are catalogued under a finer coast above, or not yet catalogued at all.