What is the definition of a pro spearo and what acomplishments should one have to achieve to reach professional status?
-
Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:
- Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
- Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
- Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
- Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
- All this and much more...
You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!
Pro Spearo
- Thread starterajwaverider
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
, There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Im not sure but i think in order to become a pro athelete you need to make a certain amount of money from only that sport. I think i read this somewere ( had nothing to do with spearfishing) but I dont remember. O well, Good Luck
Ryan
Ryan
Making a living off it (your proffession i.e your job) from the act of directly selling your catch or IMO indirectly from advertising/representing companies' products as a spearo. In legal terms the distinction between amateur and professional is where profit derived directly from spearfishing is permissible. I have no idea whether one is allowed to sell speared fish in the US as an amateur or pro, but in Greece its illegal. Taking part part in a multitude of tournaments would make one a champion of hobbyist spearfishers at best, but still not a professional in the literal sense.
I knew i'd get some good answers but I got some humor in them as well.
Fuzz . If i could spear any fish now I could make a buck or two off the fisherman who are doing even worst than I am.
Czspearfisher, Don't forget I need a big sponser as well as a 6 figure salary.
Ntrik. Sounds about right but i'm wondering if a persons attitude and dedication to the sport are enough to make them a professional aside from breaking any records.
Grahamfoster. "I get the odd bottle wine / four pack of beer - does that count? "
Yes it counts and when you're able to trade your catch for dinner with some female company and a bottle of wine and/or beers I will make proff spearing my new goal in life
.
Spaniard. I can sympathise with those spearos .If I depended on spearing for food I would be about 50 pounds lighter than I am now.
Fuzz . If i could spear any fish now I could make a buck or two off the fisherman who are doing even worst than I am.
Czspearfisher, Don't forget I need a big sponser as well as a 6 figure salary.
Ntrik. Sounds about right but i'm wondering if a persons attitude and dedication to the sport are enough to make them a professional aside from breaking any records.
Grahamfoster. "I get the odd bottle wine / four pack of beer - does that count? "
Yes it counts and when you're able to trade your catch for dinner with some female company and a bottle of wine and/or beers I will make proff spearing my new goal in life
.Spaniard. I can sympathise with those spearos .If I depended on spearing for food I would be about 50 pounds lighter than I am now.
Last edited:
My opinion is that the only professional spearos are the commercial shooters or guides. Those are the ones that are making money on the act of shooting a fish. If a fish dosent get shot then the money dosent come in. Manufactures of gear and equipment may never shoot a fish but will still make money. If you are a commercial shooter or a guide you have to produce fish or eventually you dont get paid.
As far as I know there are no big money endorsements for any spearo at any level. Maybe as the popularity of the sport increases and people finaly see it as the most conservative way to harvest fish, the market of general public will open up. Along with that market comes sponsors and endorsements.
But for now the only way to make money as a spearo(that I know of) is to to guide or commercial harvest.
I know of very few commercial guys. They have a commercial licence to harvest fish. Instead of using a net or long lines, or traps they use scuba and selective harvest deep grouper and snapper with a speargun. I think a commercial scuba diver shooting fish is much less destructive with his licence than they could be using other methods.
The guide market is difficult to say the least, you have to compete against all types of other vacation options around the world and then when you get customers the pressure to deliver a fish to the end of a spear can be a bit heavy. I always try to make it a point to shoot a couple fish for my customers. That way they have fish to bring home no matter what. Sometimes they dont need it, some times its appreciated. My point is that a fish has to be harvested for the guide to be considered successfull.
There are many sports much easier IMHO (physicaly and mentaly) than freedive spearfishing that are more well known and have the big companies backing them. With the rise of "extreme sports" and ocean conservation I think that the popularity of freedive spearfishing will continue to rise and that will open up those doors eventually.
GTB
As far as I know there are no big money endorsements for any spearo at any level. Maybe as the popularity of the sport increases and people finaly see it as the most conservative way to harvest fish, the market of general public will open up. Along with that market comes sponsors and endorsements.
But for now the only way to make money as a spearo(that I know of) is to to guide or commercial harvest.
I know of very few commercial guys. They have a commercial licence to harvest fish. Instead of using a net or long lines, or traps they use scuba and selective harvest deep grouper and snapper with a speargun. I think a commercial scuba diver shooting fish is much less destructive with his licence than they could be using other methods.
The guide market is difficult to say the least, you have to compete against all types of other vacation options around the world and then when you get customers the pressure to deliver a fish to the end of a spear can be a bit heavy. I always try to make it a point to shoot a couple fish for my customers. That way they have fish to bring home no matter what. Sometimes they dont need it, some times its appreciated. My point is that a fish has to be harvested for the guide to be considered successfull.
There are many sports much easier IMHO (physicaly and mentaly) than freedive spearfishing that are more well known and have the big companies backing them. With the rise of "extreme sports" and ocean conservation I think that the popularity of freedive spearfishing will continue to rise and that will open up those doors eventually.
GTB