Spearfishing sits in a unique position in the ocean safety conversation. Of all recreational water activities, it involves the most deliberate creation of the sensory cues sharks respond to: blood in the water, the electrical and acoustic signature of a distressed fish, and a human in proximity to all of it. Understanding that context is not a reason to stop spearfishing, it is a reason to spearfish smarter.
Why Spearfishers Face an Elevated Risk Profile
Standard shark bite statistics aggregate all water users, which can obscure the fact that different activities carry meaningfully different risk profiles. A swimmer at a patrolled beach and a spearfisher working a remote reef at dusk are not engaged in equivalent risk activities.
The specific variables that elevate risk during spearfishing include:
- Wounded or speared fish. A fish impaled on a spear but not immediately dispatched produces a combination of erratic movement, blood, and bioelectrical output that constitutes one of the most effective shark attractants in the ocean. Bull sharks, white sharks, and tiger sharks can all detect blood at concentrations of one part per million or lower, and can follow a plume from considerable distance.
- Tethered catch. Carrying speared fish on a float line or stringer while continuing to dive is common practice, but it means swimming with an ongoing attractant signal trailing behind or beside you. Sharks in the area will investigate.
- Remote and unpatrolled environments. Spearfishing typically occurs in locations chosen for fish presence rather than proximity to help. The distances from shore and medical care matter significantly in the event of an incident.
- Low-light conditions. Many experienced spearfishers prefer dawn or dusk dives for both fish activity and visibility. These coincide directly with peak shark activity windows.
Practical Risk Reduction Strategies
Deal with fish immediately. Dispatch each fish as quickly as possible after spearing. A fish that dies quickly produces a smaller blood and bioelectric signal than one that struggles for an extended period.
Use a float and get fish out of the water. Removing speared fish to a float or boat as soon as possible, rather than keeping them on your person, puts distance between you and the primary attractant. This is the single most consistently cited recommendation from experienced practitioners and from the NSW DPI shark safety guidance for spearfishers.
Do not spearfish near seal colonies or known aggregation sites. White sharks that are actively hunting marine mammals in an area are in a predatory state that presents a categorically different level of risk to any human in the water.
Dive with a partner. The value of a buddy in spearfishing is twofold: they can assist with an incident, and two divers moving through the water together present a larger, less prey-like profile than a solo diver.
Exit the water if you see a shark showing interest. A shark that has been attracted by fish scent or activity and is circling or making repeated passes is in an investigatory state that warrants ending the session. The fish are not worth it.
Consider your equipment. A bite-resistant wetsuit does not change the risk of shark attraction during spearfishing, nothing you wear changes what a wounded fish smells like to a shark. What it changes is the severity of injury if a bite does occur. For spearfishers who work regularly in environments where large sharks are present, the combination of a deterrent device and bite-resistant protection addresses different points in the risk equation.
Understanding Shark Behaviour During Spearfishing
Sharks that appear during a spearfishing session are almost invariably responding to the sensory cues of fish activity rather than targeting the diver. A grey nurse shark drifting in at depth to investigate your catch is engaging in exactly the behaviour its biology has optimised for, it is doing its job.
That said, the distinction between a shark interested in your fish and one that has redirected its attention to you can be difficult to read in practice. The safest assumption when a large shark is in close proximity and showing sustained interest is that the session is over. Remove the fish from the water, move slowly and deliberately toward your exit, and do not leave a wounded fish in the water behind you.
Most shark incidents involving spearfishers involve a failure of one or more of these principles, not a random unprovoked attack in neutral conditions.
Shark Stop's shark bite-resistant wetsuits are worn by spearfishers who understand that mitigating the consequences of the worst-case scenario is the rational approach to any activity with genuine risk. Explore the range here.