Regulated spearfishing is an ethical way to obtain fresh fish and to remove invasive species. Unless a speared fish flops off the end of your spear (it happens), there is no catch-and-release in spearfishing. That means most spearfishermen are either spearing game fish they plan to eat or they’re attempting to remove invasive species that harm native critters and ecosystems. The bottomline: As long as you don't spear more than you eat, you respect marine life and the reefs, and you stay legal, freedive spearfishing is perfectly ethical. There is a long-standing position in the diving community that spearfishing with scuba equipment is unethical because of the huge advantage it lends humans, allowing us to dive for long periods and swim close to critters who’ve evolved without a natural fear of humans. Spearfishing for damaging invasive species like lionfish with scuba equipment, however, is perfectly ethical; the goal is to maximize lionfish removal, and scuba gear lets spearfishermen dive deeper for longer.