[Bill McIntyre]

As you said, it depends.

For instance, last year a guy in Florida shot a 400+ pound warsaw grouper at a depth of over 300 feet (if my memory serves me). Obviously, you can't do that freediving.

But where I live in Southern California, the most desirable species, white sea bass, is very sensitive to bubbles and other noises such as clearing of ears and fins touching each other, so its pretty rare that one is taken by a scuba diver.