Do you need a permit for magnet fishing?

Last checked: August 2026.

Short answer: in most places you do not need a permit or a fishing licence to go magnet fishing. A standard angling licence covers fishing for fish, and magnet fishing is not fishing for fish, so it usually sits outside that system entirely.

The longer answer is that legality rarely depends on the magnet. It depends on who controls the water you are standing next to, and on what you do with what you pull out. Those two things vary enormously between countries, and sometimes between towns.

Country guides

We have researched each of these against government and legal sources. The position differs a great deal more than most people expect — several European countries are considerably more restricted than the hobby's reputation suggests.

  • United States — legal in 49 states, prohibited in South Carolina
  • United Kingdom — no statute against it, but not permitted on Canal & River Trust water
  • Canada — no federal prohibition; heritage finds are Crown property
  • Australia — no law names it; state heritage rules and park bans apply
  • New Zealand — the taonga tūturu reporting duty catches objects over 50 years old
  • Netherlands — the heritage inspectorate states it is prohibited in most cases
  • Germany — permit required in most Bundesländer; several will not issue one
  • France — the government states it is illegal without prior State authorisation
  • Sweden — the metal detector permit rules do not capture magnets
  • Ireland — high caution; key questions are legally unresolved
  • Spain — what we could and could not confirm

Do you need a fishing licence to magnet fish?

In almost every country, no. Angling licences exist to manage fish stocks. Because you are not taking fish, they generally do not apply to magnet fishing.

What can apply instead:

  • Landowner or waterway permission. Every body of water belongs to somebody, whether that is a council, a canal authority, a national park or a private owner. Permission to be there is not the same as permission to remove things from the bottom.
  • Heritage and antiquities law. Many countries treat anything historic recovered from the water as public property that must be reported.
  • Detection equipment law. This is the one that surprises people. Several countries regulate "metal detectors" in terms broad enough to capture a magnet — France explicitly does, Sweden explicitly does not, and in Ireland it is unresolved.
  • Local bylaws. Individual towns and waterway bodies can and do prohibit it, even where national law is silent.

What to do if you find something dangerous

This matters more than the paperwork. Magnet fishers regularly recover weapons, ammunition and, in parts of Europe, unexploded ordnance.

If you pull up a firearm, a knife, anything resembling a shell, grenade or other munition: do not move it, do not put it in your car, and do not take it home. Put distance between yourself and it, and call the police or emergency services. Old does not mean safe — wartime ordnance recovered from water can still function.

Every country guide above includes the local reporting procedure.

What to do if you find something historic

Report it. Most countries require finds of archaeological interest to be declared, and in many the object legally belongs to the state or the Crown regardless of who recovered it. Reporting it properly also means the find gets recorded, which is the part that makes it genuinely interesting rather than just old.

How to check your own spot in five minutes

  1. Work out who manages the water — council, canal authority, national park, or a private landowner.
  2. Search that body's name alongside "magnet fishing" or check their byelaws directly.
  3. If nothing is published, email and ask. A written yes is worth having.
  4. Avoid protected nature reserves, heritage sites and anywhere with restricted access, whatever the general rule says.
  5. Leave the spot cleaner than you found it. Most local bans exist because somebody left a pile of rusted scrap on a towpath.

This page is general information about published rules, not legal advice, and it is not a statement of what will or will not happen to you. Rules change. Always confirm the current position with the authority responsible for the water you plan to fish, and seek qualified legal advice if anything material turns on it.