Your thoughts on snorkeling and spearfishing?

[john j]

I'm just curious..what started all this?  I'm wondering why you ended up asking the "authorities" about this stuff.  In my experience, asking for information from these types of "authorities" is not usually a productive use of your time.

If the chief insists you need a certification, you should ask him to show you where that is written.  Perhaps you did so already.  They should have a pocket size reference book of regulations that they use when they write citations to people or for when they want to find something to cite a person for.   If this regulation really exists, I would expect it is in there and the chief should easily be able to find it.

I looked through the link to the regulations and it does not state anything about diving certifications being required for spear fishing or even for SCUBA diving for that matter, which is in agreement with my previous post-not illegal to dive if you are not certified.  If you follow the regulations that cover which fish you can spear and how/when you can spear them, catch limits, etc., it seems to me that you wouldn't get in trouble.  Do you have reason to think you would get in trouble?

Anyway, your idea to contact the state attorney sounds good.  I have contacted the MN state attorney a couple of times on non-diving issues and they were actually very helpful.  I hope ND is the same.