The World Underwater Federation, known by its French initialism CMAS held its first Freshwater Spearfishing European Championships with Scorpena this past week.
Hosted at Lake Puruvesi in southeastern Finland, it was the first of its kind to be held by the international federation.
While there have been 32 CMAS championships for the sport in marine environments, not a single one was held in freshwater until now.
Competitors from Greece, Turkey, the USA, Great Britain and Norway among others arrived to Puruvesi, part of Finland’s largest lake system Saimaa where the event began on August 13th.
Greek nationals Chrysoula Ntalaka ranked 5 and Nikos Kambanis ranked 13 after 12 hours fishing over two days. A commendable effort for salt water people far from home in unfamiliar surrounds.
The competition places a high emphasis on sustainable fishing practices, as does spearfishing in general.
“The practitioners of this sport – the so called ‘spearos’ – are ambassadors of sustainability and respect for nature and all its diversity.” Reads the competition’s official website.
A selective hunting method, spearos as they affectionately refer to themselves take great pride in ensuring the catch they take are only the most suitable specimens, leaving younger and older fish in peace to fulfil their roles in the ecosystem.
“Spearfishing is by definition one of the most sustainable forms of fishing; only selected individuals are caught and rapidly dispatched.”
Puruvesi, which reaches more than 61 metres below at its deepest point, is also home to the endangered Saimaa ringed seal, only about 400 remain in the wild.
But thanks to conservation efforts over the last 40 years, its numbers have risen from 100 in the early 1980’s. Its thought if the trend holds up, the furry creatures will be saved from extinction.
