Sources:MeteoAlarm · Open-Meteo · Copernicus · Sentinel-2 — high confidence · data 04:41
Sources & confidence
Sources
MeteoAlarm · Open-Meteo · Copernicus · Sentinel-2
Method
spearo sea-state engine: consensus of up to 6 models + satellite clarity (ZSD) + buoy-bias checks
Freshness
Re-read every hour, per coast
Compiled by the spearo sea-state engine · How it works →
The verdict comes from seven water factors and hard safety gates — not ten tabs. Go or stay.
How we score the water
Our own model
Our own forecast engine — not a third-party widget. It weighs these water factors into one go-or-stay verdict for this coast; the 0–10 dial is that verdict, read out as a number.
01
Swell & wave memory
Height, period and direction of the swell, plus the wake of recent storms — an old storm still stirs the water, and the engine remembers.
02
Wind & gusts
Speed and gusts, hour by hour — wind speed and an onshore push chop the surface and cut visibility.
03
Tide phase
Timing and range of the tide, calibrated per coast — big spring tides pull the verdict toward caution.
04
Water temperature
Sea-surface temperature — sharply cold water vetoes a green verdict.
05
Currents & outflow
Direction and drift of the current — it pushes you, and it drags turbid coastal water across where you dive.
06
Rain runoff & air clarity
Rain muddies the water inshore through land runoff, while fog and haze cut visibility at the surface.
07
Coast shape & exposure
How the coast faces the swell — a sheltered cove keeps the water clean; an exposed, head-on point takes a penalty.
Safety gates
Thunderstorm forecast — an instant red, no exceptions.
An official warning (MeteoAlarm / IPMA) — yellow, or red for the higher ranks.
Missing input data — a would-be green is capped to yellow rather than overstated.
Strong disagreement between forecast models — a green day is pulled back to yellow.
Night hours — where night spearfishing is banned by law the window is forced red; where it is legal (Australia outside NSW, New Zealand, South Africa) it is capped at yellow, never green.
It all folds into a single 0–10 score and one verdict: go or stay.
A forecast, not a guarantee — the sea has the last word.
Where to get in, where to hunt
Entry points with coordinates
Seabed relief — promising ground
This verdict — in your pocket. Open the app for the week's window.
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0 m
Surface
Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.
spearo.app
MeteoAlarm no dataupdated 04:41
Exposed coast — Lesbos west (Faneromeni) — solo, off the rocks
BEST WINDOW
best weather window · solo, stay careful, run the checklist · calm conditions: swell, wind and visibility all normal
What's missing? Tell us what you'd like to see — new spots, species, data or features. We read everything.
Your best window — with you. Forecast in your pocket.
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−10 m
The water column
Visibility and what drives it — post-storm clearing, river plume, temperature and the thermocline.
What it is
A marine instrument, go / no-go for solo hunting.
spearo.app folds wind, wave, swell period, visibility, tides, water temperature and risk into a single verdict — go to the spot or not. It computes 7 days ahead from open marine models (Open-Meteo, IPMA), with no sign-up and no accounts. Built for solo spearfishing off the rocks, where any mistake costs dearly.
Now live: 3016 spots across 406 stretches of coast — mainland Portugal, Madeira and the Azores.
Gera & Kalloni GulfsSheltered water — Gera & Kalloni gulfs, Vatera
borderline
in the headland's lee today — swell from the quarter/behind (city-level)
window
The gulfs fish almost year-round, but in high summer the water inside goes murky and blooms — take June, then October and November. Work in the morning, before the boats head out to the shellfish beds. May is shut and so is night: gun in the water only between sunrise and sunset.
tide
The level decides nothing, ten to forty centimetres. But water pumps in and out through Gera's narrow throat as a real stream, and at the entrance you get a set worth planning for. Inside, summer water heats up above the open sea, and warm springs seep out along the western shore.
shelter
The two gulfs work like a scoop: Gera has a throat only 275 m wide, Kalloni a long shallow strait. Inside, no wind builds a proper wave, which is why people run in here when everything outside is white. The fetch is short — the worst you get is a chop against the windward shore.
conditions
You come here precisely when the open coast is off. The bottom is soft — sand, mud, seagrass, two to fifteen metres — and the visibility is modest to start with. Strong wind itself is no obstacle; rain is, because the runoff from the streams kills the water for several days.
hazard
Gear is the main problem. Kalloni lives off shellfish: beds, marker floats, ropes and dredges, and you hold 300 m off any set gear, same as off quays. Visibility is low, so boats will not see you — the buoy is not negotiable. The bottom is silt; touch it and you are in a cloud for half an hour.
access
From shore, and that is the point: roads run round both gulfs and you can get down to the water almost anywhere. In Gera it is easy from Perama and Skopelos, in Kalloni from Skala. The swim is short — the interesting rocky edges start a few dozen metres off the waterline.
Two near-landlocked gulfs, sand/seagrass + rocky edges 2–15 m — the all-wind lee for tsipoura/lavraki/octopus; lower viz. Shore.
Mornings, before the daytime breeze gets up. June and early July give quiet water, but the best month is September: warm, clear, and the tourists have gone. Cross May off your plans, the whole country is shut. Gun in the water only between sunrise and sunset.
tide
Tide decides nothing here, twenty or thirty centimetres. What matters is the Kalloni mouth next door: the gulf joins the sea through a shallow strait about four kilometres long, and on the outflow warm, milky water comes out of it. After rain it arrives loaded with silt and cuts the visibility.
shelter
Cape Agios Fokas closes the western end of Vatera, and the whole bulk of the island stands as a wall against the meltemi — with N and NE the water here is flat. The weak side is south and southwest: open sea, long fetch, and the shallow wreck starts rolling straight away.
conditions
Go while the north holds: at 5 to 17 m the structure reads perfectly on those days. Southern swell ruins it — at that depth the wave stirs the sand around the hull and the haze hangs on for a day after the wind drops. A fresh southwesterly means stay home.
hazard
Agios Fokas is a working little fishing harbour — hold 300 m off the quay and off any moored boat, and the same off set nets. The wreck is torn metal with sharp edges, so stay outside it. Put the buoy up: in summer excursion boats run over from Vatera.
access
Boat only. The nearest launch is Agios Fokas at the western end of Vatera, reached by tarmac from Polichnitos; five to ten minutes' run to the site. From Skala Kallonis it takes longer, you have to work around the gulf mouth. From shore it does not go — too far, with shallows in front.
Shallow wreck 5–17 m off the S coast near the Kalloni mouth; good aspetto around the structure, leeward in meltemi. Boat.
The first hours after sunrise are the window: the breeze builds through the day and the dive centre's boats start moving. The season opens in June, but the water really cleans up in September and October, with far fewer people. Night is closed all year, sunset to sunrise.
tide
The level moves a couple of dozen centimetres, no more. What you count is the throat of Gera: it is only about 275 m wide, and water pumps in and out through it, so there is a noticeable set past the islets. The wall drops away steeply and a cold layer often sits down there.
shelter
The spot sits just outside the mouth of Gera gulf, tucked behind the island's southeast shoulder: the northerly meltemi passes overhead and the headland with its string of islets kills the swell. It stands open to E and SE — with wind from there the wave runs straight through the gaps and there is nothing to work.
conditions
Come with N or NW: those are the calm days here, the water just stands. A light southerly still works. From the east, around 30 degrees, the wave drives into the gap between the islets and lifts sand off the shallows; at 5 to 25 m the visibility drops and you cannot hold a boat near the rocks.
hazard
Karpouzi beach at Charamida is on the port authority's crowded-beach list: from 1 June to 30 September all fishing there is banned outright, and you keep 200 m off the last swimmer. Dive-centre boats work the islets, so a buoy is not optional. The wall runs deeper than any solo dive should.
access
Tarmac runs from Mytilene to Charamida, about twenty minutes, with parking right at the water. From shore you get in over rock and swim ten minutes to the nearest reef. The Agios Vassilios islets are another ten minutes by fast boat from Charamida — too far to reach by swimming.
Islets and rocky reef SE of Mytilene, 5–25 m, the local dive base — sheltered from the meltemi, shore or boat.
Dawn is the only reliable window: the meltemi usually builds by midday and then holds for days on end. June can be quiet, but bet on September and October. Night is closed, and without a decent boat there is no point planning the trip at all.
tide
Sea level plays no part, a hand's width at most. Current does: the reef stands alone, the flow wraps around it and speeds up at the corners, so you drop in upwind and work along the ridge. After a few days of meltemi the set holds even down deep.
shelter
There is no shelter here at all. Myrmigi is a bare rock and reef a couple of miles off Petra, standing in open water, and north and northwest arrive with nothing in the way. You can only work it when the sector from north round to east is silent; the rest of the time it is white water.
conditions
Only flat calm or a light southerly blowing off the island out to sea. The top of the reef is at three metres and the wall falls away to forty — with any swell the crown churns and the descent turns into a fight. On a quiet day the visibility here is the best on the island, tens of metres.
hazard
Two miles of open water between you and the shore, and nobody to pull you out — go in a pair and with a buoy. Petra beach is on the summer crowded list, so fishing there is shut from 1 June to 30 September and entering by the town is not an option. Excursion boats run out of Petra and Molyvos; watch the horizon.
access
Boat only: about two miles from Petra harbour, five minutes on a fast one. Boats moor over the shallowest part of the ridge and you go down from there. The drive from Mytilene to Petra takes over an hour; there is parking by the harbour and skippers to talk to.
N-coast reef complex incl. 'Percy's Pinnacle', 15–21 m — clear but meltemi-exposed, dawn or calm window only. Boat.
Vatera Beach ShipwreckExposed coast — Lesbos west (Faneromeni)
borderline
swell on the quarter today (city-level)
window
Early morning, before swimmers churn the shallows and the runabouts start. The season opens in June, but the cleanest water is late September and October. Night hunting is banned across Greece, and on this beach in summer you want to be out of the water before the umbrellas go up.
tide
Tidal range is ten to thirty centimetres and you can forget it. What you do feel is temperature: in summer a cold layer settles around twenty metres and your hands go numb faster below it. After days of meltemi a steady along-shore flow runs west — on the ascent it drifts you off the boat.
shelter
Vatera is eight kilometres of open sand on the island's south side. The mountains behind it smother the meltemi, so when the north is tearing Molyvos apart, here it is glass. Southwards there is nothing at all: any swell off the open sea reaches the site undiminished.
conditions
A north wind is the signal to load the car. The wreck lies at 17 to 27 m and in calm weather it is an easy drop over sand. South or southwest shuts it down: that long shallow-sloping beach puts sand through the whole column, the bottom goes milky and getting back to the boat is work.
hazard
Vatera is named outright in the Mytilene port authority's summer order: from 1 June to 30 September all fishing in the beach's bathing zone is banned, 200 m off people and 100 m off the marker buoys. The site is past twenty metres, so no solo trips without a buoy. Loggerheads nest on this sand.
access
By boat. Most people launch from Agios Fokas or from Skala Polichnitou and run ten to twenty minutes along the beach. The road down from Polichnitos is fine and there are several car parks and tavernas by the water. Swimming out makes no sense — the site is nearly a kilometre offshore.
Wreck 17–27 m off the long S-coast beach of Vatera — leeward when the meltemi blows the north. Boat.
SOLO is the biggest risk: underwater you can black out from lack of oxygen silently and fatally, with no one around. Solo is never truly «safe». Below are the best weather windows; carry a buoy, tell someone your plan and exit time, and any doubt — don't go.
One morning glance — and you know.
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≈
Surfacing
Cameras, map and reference — to hand as you come up.
Live cameras, map & reference
Cameras · live
Look at the water right now.
Check the cam BEFORE you leave. Foam, brown/green murk, or waves washing the entry rocks = No-go. At night/in fog the cam is useless — treat it as «unknown», NOT «green».
National minimum sizes + a 150 g floor (in the table below); grouper 1/day. Spearfishing is closed all May (ΠΔ 373/1985).
In season now
gilthead seabream
Sparus aurata · 2–20 m · EU 1967/2006
European seabass
Dicentrarchus labrax · 0–15 m · EU 1967/2006
common octopus
Octopus vulgaris · 0–15 m · weight ≥750 g
Minimum by weight: ≥750 g (ΠΔ 62/2024). Don't take egg-bearing females.
dusky grouper
Epinephelus marginatus · 8–35 m · EU 1967/2006
Grouper: max 1/day (shared genus-Epinephelus limit).
wreckfish / stone bass
Polyprion americanus · 30–60 m · EU 1967/2006
Deep wreck species. Does NOT count toward the grouper limit (different genus). 45 cm — to verify.
common dentex
Dentex dentex · 12–40 m · min 150 g
Premier reef target. No EU size — the 150 g minimum only. Ethical ≥40 cm (not law).
red porgy
Pagrus pagrus · 15–40 m · EU 1967/2006
white seabream
Diplodus sargus · 0–12 m · EU 1967/2006
saddled seabream
Oblada melanura · 3–15 m · min 150 g
No EU size — only the 150 g minimum applies.
greater amberjack
Seriola dumerili · 5–30 m · min 150 g
No EU size — only the 150 g minimum applies.
leerfish / garrick
Lichia amia · 2–20 m · min 150 g
No EU size — only the 150 g minimum applies.
Mediterranean barracuda
Sphyraena viridensis · 3–25 m · min 150 g
No EU size — the 150 g minimum only. Histamine: bleed and chill at once.
flathead grey mullet
Mugil cephalus · 0–8 m · min 150 g
No EU size — only the 150 g minimum applies.
striped seabream
Lithognathus mormyrus · 2–15 m · EU 1967/2006
brown meagre / corb
Sciaena umbra · 5–30 m · EU 1967/2006
striped red mullet
Mullus surmuletus · 3–30 m · EU 1967/2006
devil firefish (lionfish)
Pterois miles · 5–40 m · invasive
⚠️ Invasive — removal encouraged, excellent flesh. Venomous spines: never grab bare-handed, cut the spines, treat a sting with hot water (>45 °C).
silver-cheeked toadfish
Lagocephalus sceleratus · 5–40 m · invasive
☠️ Invasive — kill, but DO NOT EAT: deadly toxin (TTX). Sale banned (Reg. 853/2004, Annex III Sect. VIII Ch. V(E)). Powerful beak bites — never string it live on a stringer.
white grouper
Epinephelus aeneus · 15–45 m · EU 1967/2006
Grouper: max 1/day (shared genus-Epinephelus limit).
goldblotch grouper
Epinephelus costae · 10–35 m · EU 1967/2006
Grouper: max 1/day (shared genus-Epinephelus limit).
Mediterranean parrotfish
Sparisoma cretense · 2–20 m · min 150 g
Eastern-Med delicacy (Crete/Dodecanese). No EU size — the 150 g minimum only.
rabbitfish
Siganus rivulatus / luridus · 2–20 m · invasive
Invasive — removal encouraged, edible and tasty. Venomous dorsal/anal/pelvic spines — remove carefully, treat a sting with hot water.
Law
✓⚠️ MAY — a TOTAL spearfishing ban for the whole month, every year (ΠΔ 373/1985, art. 3§1α). This is law in force, not a draft.
✓No licence required: the was abolished in 2014 (Ν. 4256/2014) — every standing prohibition stays in force all the same.
•Recreational-fisher registry (ΟΣΠΑ / Μητρώο Ερασιτεχνών Αλιέων): Reg. (EU) 2023/2842 obliges member states to register recreational fishing, and the Greek registry is described as being prepared. We found neither an act in force nor a working registry as of 08.2026 — not confirmed. Check gov.gr before you travel.
✓Age: 16+ (under-16 spearfishing is forbidden; ΠΔ 373/85, art. 3§1γ).
✓Daytime only: sunrise to sunset. Night is forbidden (ΠΔ 373/85, art. 3§1β).
✓Freediving only: scuba/any air-supply apparatus is banned — it may not even be carried aboard (ΠΔ 373/85, art. 3§2γ).
✓Distances: ≥200 m from bathers, harbours, moored vessels and marked nets; no hunting in fairways or harbour entrances/exits (ΠΔ 373/85, art. 3§1δ/ε).
✓Buoy MANDATORY: a yellow float + a yellow flag with a red diagonal stripe and the letters «Υ.Δ.», visible from ≥300 m; stay within 50 m of the buoy (ΠΔ 373/85, art. 3§3).
✓Limit: 5 kg/day (or one trophy heavier than the limit). Grouper (Epinephelus) — max 1/day, not banned (ΠΔ 373/85, art. 2§2).
✓Sale/trade of the recreational catch is prohibited (ΠΔ 373/85, art. 1§7).
✓Load the speargun only in the water — never keep it loaded out of the water (ΠΔ 373/85, art. 3§2β). Underwater light while hunting is forbidden (art. 3§2ζ).
✓Sea urchins — 20/day per person and 30/day per boat (ΠΔ 373/85, art. 2§2). Nets at any stage of the hunt are banned, and you may not take the catch out of somebody else's gear or nets (art. 3§2). Sponges and corals are off limits to the recreational fisher (art. 1§6).
✓Pneumatic and band guns are ALLOWED (a myth in English guides). Only spears with an explosive/chemical charge — — are banned (ΠΔ 373/85, art. 3§2δ).
Min. sizes: seabass 25 cm · gilthead 20 cm · white seabream 23 cm · grouper 45 cm · octopus 750 g (ΠΔ 62/2024). Any fish — not under 150 g (ΠΔ 373/85, art. 3§2στ). No-size species (dentex, amberjack, barracuda, parrotfish) — the 150 g minimum only. See the species card.
Safety protocol
Sets: watch the wave trains ≥15 min before entering; Hmax ≈ 2×Hs, the wash can run 50 m past the foam line. A lull >10 min with period >12 s = a big set «overdue», do NOT enter; enter right after a full set passes and re-check at minute 30.
Exit FIRST: find your exit AND a backup before entering. On a rocky/boulder shore a 0.5 m rise in swell can make the exit impossible — getting pinned/unable to climb out is the main killer.
Headland rip: prominent points often have a permanent topographic rip regardless of the model — locate it, enter/exit on the windward side, never swim against it.
Cold: wetsuit per the SST chip; the first shiver = a metabolic surge and a drop in breath-hold → get out at the first steady shiver. Cap the session at 45–60 min below 15 °C.
Solo discipline: buoy up; tell someone the spot and exit time; conservative breath-hold (never push it in cold/murky/surfy water); visibility <3 m — don't enter.
Afternoon wind: on many coasts the wind builds from midday — plan to be out of the water by midday; the chop builds — get out.
UV 11:00–15:00 (UVI ≥6): sunscreen and cover up on the surface interval.
Solo is a fundamental risk (hypoxic blackout with no buddy). Any doubt = No-go.
Local guide · Lesbos (Mytilene)
Spearfishing in Lesbos (Mytilene): spots, seasons and rules
Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher
Spearfishing in Lesbos is best planned around shelter. Gera and Kalloni are near-landlocked gulfs with softer bottom, lower visibility and tsipoura, lavraki and octopus. The open rocky coasts are clearer and suit grouper, dentex and sargos, but the north coast suffers in N/NE meltemi. May is a total spearfishing ban across Greece (ΠΔ 373/1985), and no spearfishing licence has been issued since 2014.
TL;DR
Lesbos is a split plan: sheltered Gera and Kalloni gulfs, or clearer open rock when wind allows.
In N/NE meltemi, move away from Molyvos and Petra toward Vatera, Agios Fokas or the gulfs.
May is fully closed in Greece; outside May, spearfish freediving-only with the 5 kg per person daily limit.
Where can you spearfish in Lesbos?
Use the gulfs for shelter and the open rock only when the wind allows. The wreck entries are boat-led and should not be treated as beginner shore dives.
Spot
Type
Depth
Level
Access
Notes
Charamida / Agios Vassilios
Islets and rocky reef SE of Mytilene
5-25 m
Moderate exposure
Shore or boat
A meltemi-sheltered rocky option near Mytilene.
Gera & Kalloni Gulfs
Sand, seagrass and rocky edges
2-15 m
Sheltered, lower visibility
Shore
The all-wind fallback for tsipoura, lavraki and octopus.
Cape Agios Fokas Shipwreck
Shallow wreck on the south coast
5-17 m
Boat and calm exit
Boat
Leeward in meltemi near the Kalloni mouth.
Petra / Myrmigi Reef
North-coast reef complex
15-21 m
Calm dawn only
Boat
Clearer water, but exposed to N/NE meltemi.
Conditions and season essentials
The useful Lesbos window is June and September to October. May is closed by national law, so there is no legal May workaround. In summer, read wind first: if N/NE meltemi is working, the north coast around Molyvos and Petra is the wrong side, while Vatera, Agios Fokas and the enclosed gulfs make more sense. Greek rules also require freediving only, no scuba or compressed air, and a daily catch limit of 5 kg per person.
✓Full ban on taking: Pinna nobilis (πίννα), corals and sponges (ΠΔ 373/85, art. 1§6 + Habitats Directive 92/43).
✓Invasives: taking the lionfish (λεοντόψαρο) is encouraged — ⚠️ venomous spines. The silver-cheeked toadfish (λαγοκέφαλος) ☠️ DO NOT EAT — deadly toxin (TTX), sale banned (Reg. 853/2004, Annex III Sect. VIII Ch. V(E)), it bites. The rabbitfish (γερμανός) is edible — venomous spines.
✓In ANY declared underwater archaeological site, and in the submerged historic sites, spearfishing is BANNED — the act names ψαροντούφεκο in so many words (ΚΥΑ ΥΠΠΟ/ΓΔΑΠΚ/ΑΡΧ/Α1/Φ41/11228/1865, ΦΕΚ 336/Β/2004, part Α §2 δ + part Β). It reaches the sites our map does not draw, too. Do not touch antiquities (Ν. 3028/2002). Map of the zones — the ENALIA geoportal (thalchor-2.ypen.gov.gr/layers/geonode:ENALIA).
•The national marine parks of Alonissos/N. Sporades and Zakynthos (Laganas): spearfishing is BANNED in the park. But Alonissos zone Β4 is not solid — ΦΕΚ 1741/Β/2011 reopened four stretches inside it (the N shore Αγ. Δημήτριος–Άκρο Απύθμενο, Μηλιά–Σπαρτίνες, όρμος Κλήμα on Περιστέρα, the Μεγάλος Αδελφός shore), while the same act creates the ΕΕΑΧ Περιστέρας, where fishing IS banned. Our layer paints the park whole, i.e. stricter than the act. Check the limits with the park authority.
•The Southern Kynouria/Arcadia diving park: Ν. 4688/2020 establishes underwater parks, but we have not read a spearfishing prohibition inside it in the act — we treat that as NOT PROVEN rather than as confirmed. The park's boundary is not on our map either (the act publishes no coordinates). Ask the Leonidio/Tyros λιμεναρχείο before you go.
•Local bans: on top of the national rules, every port authority issues its own (ΓΚΛ/ΕΚΛ and λιμενάρχης decisions). In the ΛΣ-ΕΛ.ΑΚΤ registry we counted ~163 of them that reach a speargun, across 48 ports — our map does NOT draw them. Check your own port: alieia.hcg.gr/prohibitions/local/local17.php.
•Locally STRICTER than the national rule: Corfu (Kerkyra) — from 01.04 to 31.10 spearfishing is banned within 200 m of the shore, even where nobody is swimming (απόφαση Λ/Χ Κέρκυρας 2141.1/2939/2024, ΦΕΚ Β΄3269/2024). In practice that closes shore entry on Corfu for the season. We read the act in the registry, not in the ΦΕΚ — confirm with the λιμεναρχείο.
•Locally STRICTER: Lefkada — 300 m instead of 200, and not only the speargun: ψαροντούφεκο, nets and longlines are banned within 300 m of those sea areas, beaches and shores of the port district THAT ARE USED BY BATHERS (απόφαση Λ/Χ Λευκάδας 2131.13/1477/2022, in its own words «όπου χρησιμοποιούνται από λουόμενους»). The act ran to 30.09.2022 and we found no extension; an expired act is not proof that the ban is gone. Ask the Lefkada λιμεναρχείο.
•Locally STRICTER: Symi — from 15.06 to 15.09 fishing BY ANY MEANS is banned within 200 m of beach areas and in inhabited coastal areas WHERE BATHERS ARE PRESENT OR GATHER (απόφαση Λ/Χ Σύμης 2131.13/882/2016). Separately, year-round: fishing by any means is banned inside the port and its sea zone, except line/rod fishing from land (ΓΚΛ Σύμης, art. 151, ΦΕΚ 362/Β/2004). The acts were copied from the registry, not checked against the ΦΕΚ.
•Locally: inside the ports of Lavrio and Kea spearfishing is banned across the WHOLE port water, not merely under the 200 m rule; separately, in front of the hotel beaches (ΓΚΛ Λαυρίου, art. 240, ΦΕΚ 460/Β/1978). The act was copied from the registry, not checked against the ΦΕΚ.
•Coming: two new national marine parks are being created (Ionian + South Cyclades, ~27,500 km²). NOT yet in force (ΠΔ under review, mid-2026). Once live — a trawl ban + a seasonal coastal closure 15.04–31.05; in the strict zones spearfishing will be banned. Check before the season.
⛔ Pinna nobilis (πίννα, fan mussel) — full ban on taking/killing (Habitats Dir. 92/43 Annex IV; critically endangered).
Rules change, and the local Λιμεναρχείο (port authority) may impose local restrictions. Before heading out, check the current rules and the declared archaeological zones (ENALIA).
FAQ
Do you need a licence to spearfish in Lesbos?
No spearfishing licence has been issued in Greece since 2014. Check gov.gr before travel for the recreational-fisher registry.
Is spearfishing banned in May?
Yes. May is a total spearfishing ban across Greece, including Lesbos.
Where do you go in meltemi?
Use Vatera, Agios Fokas or the Gera and Kalloni gulfs when N/NE wind makes the north coast poor.
What fish are typical?
The gulfs suit tsipoura, lavraki and octopus; clearer open rock adds grouper, dentex and sargos.
Is scuba spearfishing allowed?
No. Spearfishing in Greece is freediving-only; scuba and compressed-air gear are banned.
