“…Nonetheless, the high catch rates achieved by some practitioners (e.g., Lloret et al., ), coupled with the main species groups sought (e.g., cephalopods, crabs, lobsters, seabreams, snappers, groupers, jacks) also being targeted by commercial and other recreational fishers (Frisch, Baker, Hobbs & Nankervis, ), has resulted in conflicts between different fishing modes around the globe. It has also led to a generalised belief that spearfishing is responsible for significant changes on particular species groups inhabiting coastal areas, such as wrasses, groupers or snappers (Coll et al., ; Cook, ; Frisch, Cole, Hobbs, Rizzari & Munkres, ; Meyer, ; Pita & Freire, ). These groups of species occur mostly within depth ranges where spearfishers operate (i.e., <25 m depth)—this, coupled with their biological characteristics (slow growing, long‐lived and late maturation), renders these species the most vulnerable to spearfishing (Lindfield, McIlwain & Harvey, ; Lloret et al., ).…”