What you need to have, what you need to leave, and where to check it. We name the text when we have found one, and we say so when we have not — because a regulations page that does not distinguish between the two is no use to anyone.
This is not legal advice. We are neither lawyers nor an administration: we are spearfishers who have gathered here what is hard to find anywhere else, as a service. Only the texts published in the Bulletin officiel and the maritime fisheries delegation for your district are authoritative. Check before you get in the water: everyone remains responsible for their own practice.
This page is an unofficial, volunteer summary. It does not come from any ministry, administration, federation or association, and binds none of them. It is not legal advice, not an authorisation, and not a guarantee of compliance.
Maritime fisheries regulation keeps changing: biological rest orders, area closures and marketable sizes are published during the year, and how they are applied varies from one maritime district to another. Information that was exact the day it was written can be out of date today. So for each item we name either the text it comes from, or the fact that it remains to be confirmed; a “to be confirmed” mark means we were unable to consult a text, and it must not be read as a rule in force.
No liability may be sought from the authors of this site for any error, omission, obsolescence, or for any damage, penalty or prosecution resulting from the use of this information. Before any outing, contact the competent maritime fisheries delegation; its details are on mpm.gov.ma.
We never publish GPS coordinates of spots, and we publish nothing intended to get around an inspection or a prohibition. If anything on this page looks inaccurate, incomplete or liable to harm anyone, tell us: we correct it or take it down without argument.
Last reviewed: 12 September 2026. Report an error
The whole page in eight lines. The rest only fills in the detail.
An authorisation is required
Spearfishing has had its own text since 1962 and is practised under a special authorisation, issued by the maritime fisheries delegation for the district where you intend to dive — not the one where you live.
On a single breath, and nothing else
Spearfishing is defined by the absence of breathing apparatus. A tank changes the nature of the activity and puts you outside your authorisation.
In daylight
From sunrise to sunset. Hunting at night is excluded from recreational fishing.
Five fish a day
The ceiling we are given is five fish per diver per day. It is often copied as "5 kg": that is not the same thing, and it is the number of fish that counts.
For your table, not for sale
The catch is for the fisher and their family. Selling the product of recreational fishing is prohibited, and it is one of the things the administration pursues most readily.
Some species are closed or forbidden
Bluefin tuna may not be shot. Dusky grouper is closed in July and August, octopus during its biological rest periods. Neither the size nor the season can be guessed: see below.
A flagged buoy
It signals your presence to boats. Described as required by the delegations, without our having the text — and the first thing to take anyway.
When in doubt, the delegation
A phone call or a visit to the counter of your port’s maritime fisheries delegation costs less than a fine, and it is the only answer that binds you.
We were unable to consult the text setting the exact list of documents or the current fee. What follows is the process as clubs and practitioners describe it to us: a checklist to prepare with, not an official form.
Find your delegation
The authorisation is issued by the maritime fisheries delegation for the maritime district where you intend to dive. The delegations' contact details are on the Maritime Fisheries Department website.
The file
A written request addressed to the Delegate of Maritime Fisheries, a copy of your identity document — CNIE, or residence card or passport for non-residents — four photographs, and the stamp duty. The amount of the fee is set by regulation; we could not find the figure in force, so ask at the counter.
A medical certificate and insurance
A certificate less than three months old attesting fitness for freediving, and a valid insurance certificate covering civil liability and diving-related risks.
A club licence
Membership card of a club affiliated to the diving and underwater activities federation. Asked for by some delegations according to practitioners, not by all.
Validity
The authorisation is described to us as annual, expiring at the end of the calendar year and renewable. Have that confirmed on the document itself.
Non-resident visitors
The texts provide for an exemption from the fee for tourists for the duration of their stay. It does not exempt you from applying for the authorisation. In practice, going through a local club is the quickest route.
From shore: nothing beyond your authorisation
Entering from the beach or the rocks: the individual authorisation is the only document that concerns you.
By boat: two sets of papers
The boat has obligations of its own — the registration certificate (acte de francisation), a valid recreational fishing authorisation, and lawful capacity and safety equipment. Your authorisation does not cover the boat and its papers do not cover you; you need both, or the whole outing is irregular even if you personally are in order.
The principle of the texts fits in one sentence: the lung and the strength of your arms. Anything that restores the advantage beyond that is excluded.
Breathing apparatus
Tank, hookah, rebreather: hunting is done on a single breath. Having a speargun and a tank in the same boat is reported as being treated at an inspection as hunting on a tank, catch or no catch — keep the outings separate.
Hunting at night
Recreational fishing runs from sunrise to sunset. Lighting fish at night to approach them falls within no legal framework.
Explosives, charges and toxic substances
Explosive heads, powder charges, poisons: forbidden for all fishing, and among the most heavily punished offences of law no. 15-12.
Using an underwater scooter to hunt
Chasing a fish on an underwater scooter is reported to us as forbidden, the device being tolerated only for travel, with the gun unloaded.
A loaded speargun out of the water
You load in the water and unload on the way out — shore, boat, car park. A safety matter before it is a regulatory one, and the first reflex an inspector looks for.
Nets
Diving to drive fish towards a set net, or to take fish from a net, is professional fishing and not covered by your authorisation.
Selling your catch
The product of recreational fishing is not sold: not to a restaurant, not to a neighbour, not online.
Freediving and its equipment
Mask, snorkel, fins, wetsuit, weights, gloves: the basic kit calls for no formality.
A speargun powered by muscle
Rubbers, or a pneumatic loaded by hand. Chemically propelled guns and explosive heads are excluded.
Diving knife
A safety tool above all: cutting a line, freeing yourself from a net, finishing a fish cleanly.
Flagged signal buoy Mandatory
A visible dive flag, so boats give you room. Described as required by the delegations; whatever the text says, it is what keeps a propeller away from you.
A torch, by day
For looking into a crack in broad daylight. That is not the same thing as lighting fish at night, and an inspector can tell the difference.
The distances that circulate — 500 m from a port, 300 m from a supervised beach — are reported to us without our being able to find them in any Moroccan text. Take them as a prudent order of magnitude, not as an exact limit.
Ports, channels and anchorages To confirm
Port basins, access channels, the approaches to installations and to vessels at anchor. The 500 m figure is the one reported to us; the logic, on the other hand, is not up for debate: a diver in a channel is invisible.
Supervised beaches, in season To confirm
A speargun among swimmers is an accident and a fine. Around 300 m from a bathing area according to what is reported to us; in practice, go somewhere else.
Military zones and official residences To confirm
Naval bases, surveillance installations, palaces and royal residences on the coast. You do not go near them and you do not negotiate on the spot.
Aquaculture farms To confirm
Rearing cages and shellfish lines: a concession and private property, independently of fishing regulation.
Marine protected areas To confirm
Al Hoceima National Park and the Jbel Moussa area are reported to us as forbidden or tightly controlled for spearfishing. Ask the site manager before going.
Areas and species under biological rest
The administration periodically closes areas or species by order. These orders appear during the year and are not all relayed: this is the point to re-check before each season, and the one this page will always be behind on.
Wrecks and submerged heritage To confirm
Hunting above a wreck is no problem; bringing something up is. Cannon, coins, hull fittings belong to the State, even when found by chance — and an unrecorded wreck should be reported to the local authorities.
Small-scale fishing grounds
Nothing forbids you from being there. But cutting a net or getting in a boat’s way does more damage to spearfishing in Morocco than any inspection.
How many, and what may not be taken at all — whatever its size.
Five fish per diver per day To confirm
That is the ceiling we are given. It is very often copied as "5 kg", including by serious sites: that is not the same thing, and it is the number of fish that counts, not the weight. We could not find it in any Moroccan text: treat it as a prudent maximum, not as a right to five fish.
Personal consumption, full stop
Spearfishing is recreational fishing: the catch feeds the fisher and their family. Selling it is prohibited in any form.
Bluefin tuna: never To confirm
A species under a strict international quota, managed vessel by vessel. No framework provides for its capture by a recreational diver, and a recreational catch of a quota species is the most visible offence a diver can commit.
Dusky grouper: closed in July and August To confirm
Its two spawning months, which are also the high season for hunting. Beyond the text: it is the species that disappears fastest from a hunted spot, and a big one took fifteen years to become big.
Octopus: closed during biological rest periods To confirm
Several periods a year, set by order, and the dates change from one year to the next. Check with the delegation before the outing — not here.
Crustaceans are not shot To confirm
Shooting a spiny lobster or a lobster damages it and makes it impossible to see whether the female is carrying eggs. Some delegations are reported as forbidding crustaceans to divers entirely.
Minimum sizes apply
A 1988 order sets a minimum size species by species. The full table — fish, cephalopods, crustaceans, shellfish — is on the legal sizes page.
Shoot bigger than the law
The 1988 order was written for commercial fishing. A fish just at the legal size is often a fish that has never spawned.
Three tiers, and they are not interchangeable: what is forbidden, what is closed part of the year, and what we ask you to leave without any text obliging you to.
Mediterranean monk seal
EndangeredMonachus monachus
One of the rarest marine mammals in the world. The largest surviving colony lives on the Dakhla and Cap Blanc coast — that is, in our waters. Any capture or disturbance is prohibited; crossing paths with one is a privilege, not an opportunity.
Barcelona Convention, CITES Appendix I, Bonn Convention
Marine turtles
ThreatenedCaretta caretta, Chelonia mydas, Dermochelys coriacea
Capture, possession and trade prohibited. A turtle caught in a net or a line is freed and reported, not brought back.
CITES Appendix I, Barcelona Convention, Bonn Convention
Dolphins and other cetaceans
ProtectedDelphinidae
No capture, no pursuit. The question does not arise for a spearfisher, but it is here because the list has to be complete.
Barcelona Convention, ACCOBAMS, CITES
Red coral
Harvested under licenceCorallium rubrum
Harvesting red coral in Morocco falls under a strictly controlled licensing regime, with allocated areas and quotas. No recreational take fits within that framework: collecting it while diving is poaching, whatever the quantity.
Moroccan coral licensing regime
Noble pen shell
Critically endangeredPinna nobilis
The largest shell in the Mediterranean was decimated after 2016 by a parasite that killed more than 99% of the populations across much of its range. The individuals still alive are potentially resistant: they are the ones that will repopulate, or nobody will. Do not touch them, report them.
Barcelona Convention, Annex II
Requins ange
En danger critiqueSquatina squatina, S. aculeata, S. oculata
Posé sur le sable, immobile et confiant, l’ange de mer est l’animal le plus facile à tirer de toute la côte. C’est aussi l’un des poissons les plus menacés de la planète.
Convention de Barcelone, annexe II
Bluefin tuna
ProhibitedThunnus thynnus
Bluefin tuna may not be shot, whatever its size. A recreational catch of a quota species is the most visible offence a diver can commit.
A species under a strict international quota, managed vessel by vessel. No framework provides for its capture by a recreational spearfisher — to be confirmed with the delegation, but the doubt does not work in your favour.
Sciaena umbra
Sedentary, gregarious and faithful to its cave: a group once found can be emptied in a season by a single diver, and the site stays empty afterwards. Fully protected in several Mediterranean countries.
Absent from the Moroccan size table; legal status not confirmed
Epinephelus marginatus
July and August are its spawning months, and also the high season for hunting: the combination is exactly what empties a spot. The grouper changes sex as it ages, so every big one taken costs far more than a single fish.
A July and August closure reported by practitioners and clubs, with no text we were able to consult — to be confirmed with your delegation.
Octopus vulgaris
Octopus is the most closely watched species on the Moroccan coast, because part of the small-scale fishery lives on it. An octopus out of season is the catch that gets noticed most.
Biological rest periods set by order, several a year, with dates that change from one year to the next. Check with the delegation before each outing: this page will always be behind the order.
Palinurus, Panulirus, Homarus
A female carrying eggs under her abdomen is not taken, whatever her size and whatever the season. Turn the animal over every time before deciding. Closed periods also exist depending on the area.
Consistent fishery practice; no Moroccan text found
And the minimum sizes? The 49 legal sizes from the 1988 order — fish, cephalopods, crustaceans, shellfish — are on their own page.
See the legal sizesReports are drawn up by judicial police officers, the Royal Maritime Gendarmerie, the Royal Navy and maritime fisheries officers. We cite the general framework; the exact scale of the penalties depends on how the offence is characterised, and we are not in a position to tell you what you are risking in a specific case. For that you need a lawyer.
What law no. 15-12 says
Enacted by dahir no. 1-14-95 of 12 May 2014 and published in Bulletin officiel no. 6262, it has 37 articles in two titles and amends the 1973 dahir. That is the text to consult if a penalty figure is quoted at you.
Seizure and withdrawal
The gear, the catch and, depending on the offence, the means used to commit it or to transport the catch may be seized. The authorisation may be withdrawn, temporarily or permanently.
Fines
The law provides for high fines, increased for repeat offences. The highest figures in circulation target illegal fishing in the commercial sense — vessels, gear, marketing — and not the recreational diver: do not read the ceiling of the law as the price of an undersized fish.
Custodial sentences To confirm
Provided for the gravest offences, in particular the use of explosives or toxic substances and illegal trade.
An inspection goes well when the papers are there
Authorisation, identity document, the catch in the buoy and nothing more, gun unloaded, flagged buoy. The rest is a conversation.
This part is not law. Nothing here is enforceable. It is what we hold ourselves to, and what we ask of the people who use this site. The law sets an acceptable minimum — and it dates from 1962 for practice and 1988 for sizes.
I shoot what I have identified. Species and size before the finger on the trigger, never the other way round.
I set myself sizes above the law, enough for the fish to have spawned at least once, and I do not take what I will not eat.
I respect those who live from the sea. I keep clear of the nets and boats of small-scale fishers, and I leave nothing behind me.
I dive with a buddy. Blackout gives no warning, and safety comes before the catch — including when the catch is a good one.
I do not publish my spots. No coordinates, and no photograph that gives them away. A spot shared publicly is a spot emptied within the year.
The list of our gaps, published on purpose. A regulations page that claims to be complete is a page that invented the parts it was missing.
The texts this page is drawn from. When a rule above points to none of them, it was reported to us without a reference: it then carries the "to be confirmed" mark, and must not be read as law in force.
Decree no. 2-61-227 of 25 July 1962 regulating the practice of swimming or underwater fishing in Moroccan maritime waters
Décret n° 2-61-227 (1962)
http://www.mpm.gov.ma/wps/wcm/connect/e6d816f1-cf12-4476-828e-96387522e211/recueil+lois+fran%C3%A7ais.pdf?MOD=AJPERESDahir bearing law no. 1-73-255 of 27 chaoual 1393 (23 November 1973) forming the maritime fishing regulation
Dahir n° 1-73-255 (1973)
https://leap.unep.org/en/countries/ma/national-legislation/dahir-portant-loi-no-1-73-255-formant-reglement-sur-la-pecheLaw no. 15-12 on preventing and combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, enacted by dahir no. 1-14-95 of 12 May 2014
Loi n° 15-12, BO n° 6262 (2014)
https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/mor135031.pdfOrder no. 1154-88 of 3 October 1988 setting the minimum marketable size of species fished in Moroccan maritime waters, amended by orders no. 352-89 (2 February 1989) and no. 652-92 (1 October 1993)
Arrêté n° 1154-88 (1988)
https://www.fh2mre.ma/fh2mre_wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/dimension_poissons.pdfCompilation of legislative and regulatory texts on maritime fishing, Maritime Fisheries Department
Recueil du Département de la pêche maritime
http://www.mpm.gov.ma/wps/wcm/connect/e6d816f1-cf12-4476-828e-96387522e211/recueil+lois+fran%C3%A7ais.pdf?MOD=AJPERESMaritime Fisheries Department — delegations, approvals and authorisations
mpm.gov.ma
http://www.mpm.gov.ma/wps/portal/Agrements-AutorisationsNo text cited — practice reported by clubs, instructors and practitioners
Sans texte cité
Do you know the answer? An order number, a photograph of an authorisation, what you were told at the counter — all of it helps. Every contribution is checked before it is published, and its source is cited.
Write to usA reminder: this is an unofficial information page with no legal force, published by spearfishers and not by an administration. The texts cited above are the only reference; in case of doubt, the maritime fisheries delegation for your district decides. Every spearfisher remains solely responsible for complying with the regulation that applies to them.