Special thanks to the Townsville Skindiving Club champion Dr Adam Smith, author of Underwater Fishing in Australia and New Zealand, the most recent book published on the subject. Dr Adam Smith has provided the below advice on the sport. His book comes highly reccomended and is a great guide for both novice divers and veterans alike.

The book is available from the publishers for $29.95 (Australian Dollars) - Mountain, Ocean & Travel Publications by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Ph: 03 5944 3774
Fax: 03 5944 4024
Int: + 61 3 59 443 774
Fax: + 61 3 59 444 024  

It is necessary to be able to swim before you can freedive, and once you can freedive comfortably you can then combine this technique with the other activities of spearfishing and collecting. Freediving is a technique which involves holding your breath and submerging underwater. Freediving is also called skindiving and snorkeling. Humans are not ideally suited to freediving - we have difficulty seeing underwater, we naturally float, are slow and get cold compared to most aquatic creatures. Thus, we use equipment (mask, snorkel, fins,wetsuit and weight belt) to enable us to freedive.