Is scuba spearfishing allowed?

No. Aqualung or scuba use for spearfishing is banned.

Can you hunt the Imperial Eagle wreck?

Do not hunt the wreck. It is in a wreck-conservation area and needs a protected-zone check.

Which spot is most sheltered?

Mistra Bay is usually the calmer choice compared with Qawra Point.

Are swimmer zones a problem?

Yes. Stay well clear of buoyed bathing areas and seasonal closures set by Transport Malta.

St Paul's Bay spearfishing forecast — Malta

St Paul's Bay · Malta

2.5

💧 Water should clear by Tuesday (~2d)

visibility1m

Today — sit it out — wave, wind and visibility. 💧 Water should clear by Tuesday (~2d)

Sources: MeteoAlarm · Open-Meteo · Copernicus — high confidence · data 04:11

Sources & confidence

Sources: MeteoAlarm · Open-Meteo · Copernicus
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.

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.
Wind & gusts: Speed and gusts, hour by hour — wind speed and an onshore push chop the surface and cut visibility.
Tide phase: Timing and range of the tide, calibrated per coast — big spring tides pull the verdict toward caution.
Water temperature: Sea-surface temperature — sharply cold water vetoes a green verdict.
Currents & outflow: Direction and drift of the current — it pushes you, and it drags turbid coastal water across where you dive.
Rain runoff & air clarity: Rain muddies the water inshore through land runoff, while fog and haze cut visibility at the surface.
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.

Google Play — QR code — point your camera

0 m

Surface

Wind, wave and the swell windows — when to go and the best hours.

spearo.app

MeteoAlarm no dataupdated 04:11

St Paul's Bay — solo, off the rocks

DON'T GO

don't go · wave 1.7 m (occasionally up to ~3.4 m)

wave 1.7 m head-onwind 30, gusts 43 km/hvisibility ~1 m

today, best window 06:00–09:00

fish · Visibility 1 m · Water 23.3°C

confidence low · verdict for the selected day

Whole week — tap a day. is driving swell right now.

Solo risk: carry a float · tell someone your plan and exit time · doubt = don't go. A model-based planner; the call is made on site.

Selected day

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

The day is picked above, in the hero. Here are that day's windows, the hour-by-hour map and the trends. Tap a window to break down the conditions.

Sunday · today2026-10-25

06:18–17:14 · full moon

▲ 02:00▼ 08:00▲ 14:00▼ 20:00 · 0.3 m

Hours (06→20)

Day's trends

Tide-0.36 m

Wave1.44 m

Wind27 km/h

Water23 °C

fish activity: moonset 05:22 · moderate · moon underfoot 11:00 · high · moonrise 16:33 · moderate · moon overhead 23:30 · high

Conditions window06:00–09:00

don't go fish

Hs 1.68 m · roughperiod 7.4 s head-onwind 30→43surge 0.3viz 1 m

1.68 mrough · up to ~3.36 · 286° head-on

7.4 sswell moderate

30→43gusts 43 km/h

0.3weak surge

0.06m/s

1 mrecent swell

23.3°C5 mm + hood

▼08:00tide turn near

Atmosphere41 kmovercast

lowoff the lunar peaks

wave 1.7 m (occasionally up to ~3.4 m)
steep wind-wave — choppy surface, careful on entry
dawn/dusk

confidence lowtwilight

Open the seafloor map with entry points

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What's in season,
what the law says.

In season now

dusky grouper
Epinephelus marginatus · 8–35 m · ⚠️ release
Ċerna (dusky grouper): no licence needed, but it is highly vulnerable — please release it. Scuba and night spearfishing are banned.
bluefin tuna
Thunnus thynnus · 5–40 m · 📋 permit only
Bluefin tuna: permit only (ICCAT/BCD quota). Do not take without authorisation — heavy fines.
white seabream
Diplodus sargus · 0–12 m
gilthead seabream
Sparus aurata · 2–20 m
common dentex
Dentex dentex · 12–40 m
common dolphinfish
Coryphaena hippurus · 0–30 m

Law

✓No licence is required for shore or breath-hold spearfishing. Using an aqualung (scuba) and night spearfishing are both banned (EU Reg. 1967/2006 & 2019/1241).
•Each year Transport Malta closes designated swimmer/bathing zones to spearfishing for the season (roughly summer to mid-October) — stay well clear of buoyed bathing areas and check the current notice to mariners.
✓Dusky grouper (ċerna) is a species of national concern — releasing it is advised. Bluefin tuna may be taken only with a special authorisation (ICCAT/BCD).
✓The key to Maltese closures: a «fishing implement» in Maltese law INCLUDES the speargun — reg. 2 of the Fishery Regulations (S.L. 425.01) enumerates the implements and item (ii) is «the fish spear or grains». So a notice that closes an area to «fishing gear/implements» closes it to the speargun as well, even when it never says «spear fishing». LNtM 025 of 2026 (the wreck conservation areas) names spear fishing outright.

⛔ Fan mussel (Pinna nobilis) — strictly protected, taking/disturbing prohibited (mass die-off from a pathogen).
⛔ Date mussel (Lithophaga lithophaga) — harvesting strictly banned (destroys the reef).
⛔ Seahorses (Hippocampus), loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and monk seal (Monachus monachus) — protected, taking/disturbing prohibited.

Rules change and the seasonal bathing-zone closures are set yearly by Transport Malta. Before heading out, check with the Department of Fisheries & Aquaculture (servizz.gov.mt) and the current notice to mariners; stay well clear of buoyed bathing areas.

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.

Spearfishing in St Paul's Bay: spots, seasons and rules

Updated 2026-07-09 · By Oleksandr, spearfisher

St Paul's Bay spearfishing is a shore-entry mix of easy bay reef and exposed Qawra edges. Sirens and Mistra Bay are the calm-water choices for shallow sargo and gilthead work, while Qawra Point, L-Cave and St Paul's Reef need a clean sea without N to NE swell. Malta does not require a licence for shore or breath-hold spearfishing, but the freedom is narrow: no aqualung, no scuba-assisted hunting and no night spearfishing. Protected zones also matter. The Imperial Eagle wreck-conservation area lies offshore from Qawra, and wreck water should be avoided unless the current rules and boundary are clear.

TL;DR

St Paul's Bay is a north-facing shore-entry area; Qawra and the islands need calm N to NE swell windows.

No licence is required for shore or breath-hold spearfishing in Malta, but scuba and night spearfishing are banned.

The Imperial Eagle wreck-conservation area sits offshore from Qawra, so keep the wreck and its protected zone out of the hunting plan.

Summer swimmer zones and buoyed bathing areas close practical access even where the reef itself looks open.

Best spearfishing spots in St Paul's Bay

The bay gives a useful progression from sheltered reef to deeper edges. Sirens and Mistra are the forgiving starts. Qawra Point has cave and north reef structure, but it points into the swell and sits near a protected wreck area. St Paul's Reef is a better clear-water day than a rough-water compromise.

Spot	Type	Depth	Level	Access	Notes
Sirens (St Paul's)	Shallow reef inside the bay	To 12 m	Beginner to intermediate	Shore entry	Easy early-season ground for sargo and basic freediving rhythm. Keep well clear of swimmers, boats and buoyed bathing lines.
Mistra Bay	Sheltered bay reef and seagrass	To 15 m	Beginner to intermediate	Shore entry	Calmer than Qawra on many days. Work reef edges for sargo and gilthead rather than crossing the middle of the bay in boat traffic.
Qawra Point / Fra Ben Cave	Headland, cave and north reef

Surface

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

Spots in Malta

🇲🇹Malta

Malta

Gozo & Comino

Help us make it better

The water column

A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.

The seabed

The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.

Where to get in
off the rocks.

Surfacing

What's in season,
what the law says.

Spearfishing in St Paul's Bay: spots, seasons and rules

TL;DR

Best spearfishing spots in St Paul's Bay

When does St Paul's Bay fish best?

What Malta rules apply here?

What fish and habitats should shape the plan?

FAQ

Sources

Nearby towns

St Paul's Bay spearfishing forecast — wind, swell, visibility & live cameras

Windows, hours and the day's trends.

Get the go / no-go verdict for St Paul's Bay by email

Spots in Malta

🇲🇹Malta

Malta

Gozo & Comino

Help us make it better

A marine instrument, go / no-go for solo hunting.

The forecast is the plan.The call is on the rock.

Where to get in off the rocks.

What's in season, what the law says.

TL;DR

Best spearfishing spots in St Paul's Bay

When does St Paul's Bay fish best?

What Malta rules apply here?

What fish and habitats should shape the plan?

FAQ

Sources

Nearby towns

Windows, hours
and the day's trends.

A marine instrument,
go / no-go for solo hunting.

The forecast is the plan.
The call is on the rock.

Where to get in
off the rocks.

What's in season,
what the law says.