Fishing is the activity of trying to catch
fish. Fish are normally caught
in the wild.
Techniques for catching fish include
hand gathering,
spearing,
netting,
angling and
trapping.
The term fishing may be applied to catching other
aquatic animals such as
molluscs,
cephalopods,
crustaceans, and
echinoderms. The term is not normally applied to catching
farmed fish, or to
aquatic mammals, such as
whales, where the term
whaling is more appropriate.
According to
FAO statistics, the total number of
commercial fishermen and
fish farmers is estimated to be 38 million.
Fisheries and
aquaculture provide direct and indirect employment to over 500 million people.
[1] In 2005, the worldwide per capita consumption of fish captured from
wild fisheries was 14.4 kilograms, with an additional 7.4 kilograms harvested from
fish farms.
[2] In addition to providing food, modern fishing is also a
recreational pastime.
History
Fishing is an ancient practice that dates back to at least the beginning of the
Paleolithic period about 40,000 years ago.
[3] Isotopic analysis of the skeletal remains of
Tianyuan man, a 40,000 year old modern human from eastern Asia, has shown that he regularly consumed freshwater fish.
[4][5] Archaeology features such as
shell middens,
[6] discarded fish bones and
cave paintings
show that sea foods were important for survival and consumed in
significant quantities. During this period, most people lived a
hunter-gatherer
lifestyle and were, of necessity, constantly on the move. However,
where there are early examples of permanent settlements (though not
necessarily permanently occupied) such as those at
Lepenski Vir, they are almost always associated with fishing as a major source of food.
The ancient
river Nile was full of fish; fresh and dried fish were a staple food for much of the population.
[7] The
Egyptians had implements and methods for fishing and these are illustrated in
tomb scenes, drawings, and
papyrus documents. Some representations hint at fishing being pursued as a pastime. In India, the
Pandyas, a classical
Dravidian Tamil kingdom, were known for the pearl fishery as early as the 1st century BC. Their seaport
Tuticorin was known for deep sea
pearl fishing. The
paravas, a Tamil caste centred in
Tuticorin,
developed a rich community because of their pearl trade, navigation
knowledge and fisheries. Fishing scenes are rarely represented in
ancient Greek culture, a reflection of the low social status of fishing. However,
Oppian of Corycus, a Greek author wrote a major treatise on sea fishing, the
Halieulica or
Halieutika, composed between 177 and 180. This is the earliest such work to have survived to the modern day. Pictorial evidence of
Roman fishing comes from
mosaics.
[8] The Roman god of the sea
Neptune is depicted as wielding a fishing trident. The
Moche people of ancient
Peru depicted fishermen in their ceramics.
[9]
One of the world’s longest trading histories is the
trade of dry cod from the
Lofoten area of
Norway to the southern parts of
Europe,
Italy, Spain and
Portugal. The trade in
cod started during the
Viking period or before, has been going on for more than 1,000 years and is still important.
[citation needed]
Techniques
There are many fishing techniques or methods for catching fish. The term can also be applied to methods for catching other
aquatic animals such as
molluscs (
shellfish,
squid,
octopus) and edible marine
invertebrates.
Fishing techniques include
hand gathering,
spearfishing,
netting,
angling and
trapping.
Recreational,
commercial and
artisanal
fishers use different techniques, and also, sometimes, the same
techniques. Recreational fishers fish for pleasure or sport, while
commercial fishers fish for profit. Artisanal fishers use traditional,
low-tech methods, for survival in third-world countries, and as a
cultural heritage in other countries. Mostly, recreational fishers use
angling methods and commercial fishers use netting methods.
There is an intricate link between various fishing techniques and knowledge about the fish and their behaviour including
migration,
foraging and
habitat. The effective use of fishing techniques often depends on this additional knowledge.
[10] Some fishermen follow
fishing folklores which claim that fish feeding patterns are influenced by the position of the sun and the moon.
Tackle
Main article:
Fishing tackle
Fishing tackle is a general term that refers to the equipment used by
fishermen when fishing.
Almost any equipment or gear used for fishing can be called fishing tackle. Some examples are
hooks,
lines,
sinkers,
floats,
rods,
reels,
baits,
lures,
spears,
nets,
gaffs,
traps,
waders and tackle boxes.
Tackle that is attached to the end of a
fishing line is called
terminal tackle. This includes
hooks,
sinkers,
floats, leaders,
swivels, split rings and wire, snaps, beads, spoons, blades, spinners and clevises to attach spinner blades to fishing lures.
Fishing tackle can be contrasted with
fishing techniques.
Fishing tackle refers to the physical equipment that is used when
fishing, whereas fishing techniques refers to the ways the tackle is
used when fishing.
Fishing vessels
A fishing vessel is a
boat or
ship used to catch fish in the sea, or on a lake or river. Many different kinds of vessels are used in
commercial,
artisanal and
recreational fishing.
According to the
FAO, there are currently (2004) four million commercial fishing vessels.
[11]
About 1.3 million of these are decked vessels with enclosed areas.
Nearly all of these decked vessels are mechanised, and 40,000 of them
are over 100 tons. At the other extreme, two-thirds (1.8 million) of the
undecked boats are traditional craft of various types, powered only by sail and oars.
[11] These boats are used by
artisan fishers.
Drawing of a sport fishing boat
It is difficult to estimate how many
recreational fishing boats
there are, although the number is high. The term is fluid, since most
recreational boats are also used for fishing from time to time. Unlike
most commercial fishing vessels, recreational fishing boats are often
not dedicated just to fishing. Just about anything that will stay afloat
can be called a recreational fishing boat, so long as a
fisher
periodically climbs aboard with the intent to catch a fish. Fish are
caught for recreational purposes from boats which range from
dugout canoes,
kayaks,
rafts,
pontoon boats and small
dingies to
runabouts,
cabin cruisers and cruising yachts to large, hi-tech and luxurious
big game rigs.
[12] Larger boats, purpose-built with recreational fishing in mind, usually have large, open
cockpits at the
stern, designed for convenient fishing.
Traditional fishing
Traditional fishing is a term used to describe small scale
commercial or
subsistence fishing practices, using traditional techniques such as
rod and
tackle,
arrows and
harpoons,
throw nets and drag nets, etc.
Recreational fishing
Recreational and sport fishing describe fishing primarily for
pleasure or competition. Recreational fishing has conventions, rules, licensing restrictions and
laws
that limit the way in which fish may be caught; typically, these
prohibit the use of nets and the catching of fish with hooks not in the
mouth. The most common form of recreational fishing is done with a
rod,
reel,
line,
hooks and any one of a wide range of
baits or
lures such as
artificial flies. The practice of catching or attempting to catch fish with a hook is generally known as
angling. In angling, it is sometimes expected or required that fish be returned to the
water (
catch and release). Recreational or sport fishermen may log their catches or participate in fishing competitions.
Big-game fishing describes fishing from boats to catch large open-water species such as
tuna,
sharks and
marlin.
Sport fishing (sometimes game fishing) describes recreational fishing
where the primary reward is the challenge of finding and catching the
fish rather than the
culinary or financial value of the fish's flesh. Fish sought after include
marlin,
tuna,
tarpon,
sailfish,
shark,
mackerel, and many others.
Fishing industry
The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with
taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting,
marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the
FAO as including
recreational,
subsistence and
commercial fishing, and the harvesting,
processing, and
marketing sectors.
[13] The commercial activity is aimed at the delivery of
fish and other
seafood products for human consumption or for use as
raw material in other industrial processes.
There are three principal industry sectors:
[Note 1]
- The commercial sector
comprises enterprises and individuals associated with wild-catch or
aquaculture resources and the various transformations of those resources
into products for sale. It is also referred to as the "seafood
industry", although non-food items such as pearls are included among its
products.
- The traditional sector
comprises enterprises and individuals associated with fisheries
resources from which aboriginal people derive products in accordance
with their traditions.
- The recreational sector
comprises enterprises and individuals associated for the purpose of
recreation, sport or sustenance with fisheries resources from which
products are derived that are not for sale.
Commercial fishing
Commercial fishing is the capture of fish for commercial purposes.
Those who practice it must often pursue fish far into the ocean under
adverse conditions. Commercial fishermen harvest almost all aquatic
species, from
tuna,
cod and
salmon to
shrimp,
krill,
lobster,
clams,
squid and
crab, in various
fisheries for these species. Commercial fishing methods have become very efficient using large nets and
sea-going processing factories.
Individual fishing quotas and international treaties seek to control the species and quantities caught.
A commercial fishing enterprise may vary from one man with a small
boat with hand-casting nets or a few pot traps, to a huge fleet of
trawlers processing tons of fish every day.
Commercial fishing gear includes weights,
nets (e.g. purse
seine), seine nets (e.g. beach seine),
trawls (e.g.
bottom trawl), dredges,
hooks and line (e.g.
long line and
handline), lift nets,
gillnets, entangling nets and
traps.
According to the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations, total world
capture fisheries production in 2000 was 86 million tons (FAO 2002). The top producing countries were, in order, the
People's Republic of China (excluding
Hong Kong and
Taiwan),
Peru,
Japan, the United States,
Chile,
Indonesia,
Russia,
India,
Thailand,
Norway and
Iceland.
Those countries accounted for more than half of the world's production;
China alone accounted for a third of the world's production. Of that
production, over 90% was marine and less than 10% was inland.
Intensive
koi aquaculture facility in Israel
A small number of species support the majority of the world’s fisheries. Some of these species are
herring,
cod,
anchovy,
tuna,
flounder,
mullet,
squid,
shrimp,
salmon,
crab,
lobster,
oyster and
scallops. All except these last four provided a worldwide catch of well over a
million tonnes in 1999, with
herring and
sardines together providing a catch of over 22 million metric tons in 1999. Many other species as well are fished in smaller numbers.
Fish farms
Fish farming is the principal form of
aquaculture, while other methods may fall under
mariculture.
It involves raising fish commercially in tanks or enclosures, usually
for food. A facility that releases juvenile fish into the wild for
recreational fishing or to supplement a species' natural numbers is
generally referred to as a fish
hatchery. Fish species raised by fish farms include
Atlantic salmon,
carp,
tilapia,
catfish,
trout and others.
Increased demands on
wild fisheries by
commercial fishing has caused widespread
overfishing. Fish farming offers an alternative solution to the increasing
market demand for
fish and fish
protein.
Fish products
Fish and
fish products are
consumed as food all over the world. With other
seafoods, it provides the world's prime source of high-quality
protein:
14–16 percent of the animal protein consumed worldwide. Over one
billion people rely on fish as their primary source of animal protein.
[15]
Fish and other aquatic organisms are also processed into various food
and non-food products, such as sharkskin leather, pigments made from
the inky secretions of
cuttlefish,
isinglass used for the
clarification of
wine and
beer,
fish emulsion used as a
fertilizer,
fish glue,
fish oil and
fish meal.
Fish are also collected live for research or the
aquarium trade.
Fish marketing
Fisheries management
Fisheries management draws on
fisheries science in order to find ways to protect
fishery
resources so sustainable exploitation is possible. Modern fisheries
management is often referred to as a governmental system of (hopefully
appropriate) management rules based on defined objectives and a mix of
management means to implement the rules, which are put in place by a
system of
monitoring control and surveillance.
Fisheries science is the academic discipline of managing and
understanding fisheries. It is a multidisciplinary science, which draws
on the disciplines of
oceanography,
marine biology,
marine conservation,
ecology,
population dynamics,
economics and management in an attempt to provide an integrated picture
of fisheries. In some cases new disciplines have emerged, such as
bioeconomics.
Sustainability
Issues involved in the long term sustainability of fishing include
overfishing,
by-catch,
marine pollution,
environmental effects of fishing,
climate change and
fish farming.
Conservation issues are part of
marine conservation, and are addressed in
fisheries science
programs. There is a growing gap between how many fish are available to
be caught and humanity’s desire to catch them, a problem that gets
worse as the
world population grows.
Similar to other
environmental issues, there can be conflict between the fishermen who depend on fishing for their livelihoods and
fishery scientists who realise that if future fish populations are to be
sustainable then some fisheries must limit fishing or cease operations.
Cultural impact
- Community impact: For communities like fishing villages, fisheries provide not only a source of food and work but also a community and cultural identity.[16]
- Semantic impact: The expression "fishing expedition" describes a
situation where a questioner implies he knows more than he actually does
in order to trick his target into divulging more information than he
wishes to reveal. Other examples of fishing terms that carry a negative
connotation are: "fishing for compliments", "to be fooled hook, line and sinker" (to be fooled beyond merely "taking the bait"), and the internet scam of Phishing in which a third party will duplicate a website where the user would put sensitive information (such as bank codes).
- Religious impact: Fishing has had an effect on all major religions, including Islam,[17] Christianity,[18][19] Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, and the various new age[20] religions. According to the Roman Catholic faith the first Pope was a fisherman, the Apostle Peter,[21] a number of the miracles, and many parables and stories reported in the Bible involve it. The Pope's traditional vestments include a fish-shaped hat.
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