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Fishing
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Fishing is the activity of catching fish. Fishing techniques include netting, trapping, spearing, angling and hand gathering. The term fishing may be applied to catching other aquatic animals such as different types of shellfish, squid, octopus, turtles, frogs, and some edible marine invertebrates. Fishing is not usually applied to catching aquatic mammals such as whales, where the term "whaling" is more appropriate, or to commercial fish farming. In addition to providing food through harvesting fish, modern fishing is both a recreational and professional "sport".
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Fishing is the activity of catching fish. Fishing techniques include netting, trapping, spearing, angling and hand gathering. The term fishing may be applied to catching other aquatic animals such as different types of shellfish, squid, octopus, turtles, frogs, and some edible marine invertebrates. Fishing is not usually applied to catching aquatic mammals such as whales, where the term "whaling" is more appropriate, or to commercial fish farming. In addition to providing food through harvesting fish, modern fishing is both a recreational and professional "sport".
According to FAO statistics, the total number of fishermen and fish farmers is estimated to be 38 million. Fisheries provide direct and indirect employment to an estimated 200 million people. 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.
History
Fishing is an ancient practice that dates back at least to the Paleolithic period which began about 40,000 years ago. Archaeology features such as shell middens, 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. 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. The Greco-Roman sea god Neptune is depicted as wielding a fishing trident. The Moche people of ancient Peru depicted fisherman in their ceramics.
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 1000 years and is still important.
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 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 artificial lures such as spinners or 'dry 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 and mackerel although the list is endless.
Techniques
There are many techniques for fishing. Fishermen may use hooks and fishing line and a fishing rod.Fishing nets, fish traps, and trap nets may be used to capture fish. Lobster and crab pots use a similar method. Hand fishing consists of fishing with the hands or through the use of minimal equipment. In spear fishing, the fish is killed using an ordinary spear or a specialized variant usually barbed the. Closely related to spear fishing is bow fishing. This consists of a bow with arrows that have cord attached for retrevial. Trained animals can assist in fishing; one notable example is Asian cormorant fishing.
Kite fishing allows the fisherman to cast far into the water, even without a boat. Dredging is sometimes used to scoop scallops or oysters from the seabed. Poisonous plants can be used to stun fish so that they become easy to collect by hand; cyanide can also be used. Other fishing techniques include electrofishing and dynamite fishing. Bottom trawling, seining, driftnetting, handlining, longlining, gillnetting and diving are widely used techniques. A recent non-traditional approach using a radio-controlled boat is called remote control fishing.
Tackle
Almost any equipment or gear used when fishing can be called "fishing tackle". Some examples of tackle are lures and bait, lines, rods and reels, nets and trawls, downriggers and outriggers, gaffs and harpoons, clevises, floats,*hooks and rigs can also be used in carp fishing mainly*.
Gear that is attached to the end of a fishing line, such as hooks, leaders, swivels, sinkers, leads, tubing and snaps, are all called "terminal tackle".
The fishing industry
Fishing industries are industries concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. They include subsistence fishing, commercial supports for recreational fishing, and the various harvesting, processing, and marketing sectors.
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.
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 products
The flesh of many fish are primarily valued as a source of food and there are many edible species of fish. Today, fisheries are estimated to provide 16% of the world population's protein, and that figure is considerably elevated in some developing nations and in regions that depend heavily on the sea. Other marine life taken as food includes shellfish, crustaceans, sea cucumber, and jellyfish. Roe are also harvested.
Fish and other marine life have uses apart from food. Pearls and mother-of-pearl are valued for their lustre. Traditional methods of pearl hunting are now virtually extinct. Sharkskin and rayskin which are covered with, in effect, tiny teeth (dermal denticles) were used for sandpaper. These skins are also used to make leather. Sharkskin leather is used in the manufacture of the hilt of traditional Japanese swords. Sea horse, star fish, sea urchin and sea cucumber are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Tyrian purple is a pigment made from marine snails Murex brandaris and Murex trunculus.
Sepia is a pigment made from the inky secretions of cuttlefish. Fish glue is made by boiling the skin, bones and swim bladders of fish. Fish glue has been valued for its use in products from illuminated manuscripts to the Mongolian war bow. Isinglass is a substance obtained from the swim bladders of fish (especially sturgeon), it is used for the clarification of wine and beer. Fish emulsion is a fertilizer emulsion that is produced from the fluid remains of fish processed for fish oil and fish meal.
Fish may also be collected live for research observation or for the aquarium trade.
Fish marketing
Sustainability
Environmental issues include the availability of fish to be caught, such as overfishing, sustainable fisheries, and fisheries management; and issues surrounding the impact of fishing on the environment, such as by-catch. Scientific studies have questioned the sustainability of current fishing practices. Fisheries management, which draws on fisheries science, aims to provide for sustainable exploitation of fisheries.
Cultural impact
Community impact
For communities, fisheries provide not only a source of food and work but also a community and cultural identity.
Semantical impact
The expression "fishing expedition" (usually used to describe a line of questioning), describes a case in which the questioner implies that he knows more than he actually does in order to trick the 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 a major impact on the religious institutions, with a distinct effect on all major religions, including Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Wicca, Hinduism, Latter Day Saints and the various new age religions.
According to the Roman Catholic faith the first Pope was a fisherman, the apostle Peter, and a number of the miracles reported in the Bible involve it. Additionally, the Pope's traditional costume include a fish-shaped hat which some say is a representation of the Philistine god Dagon.
Mercury content
Fish and shellfish have a natural tendency to concentrate mercury in their bodies, often in the form of methylmercury, a highly toxic organic compound of mercury. Species of fish that are high on the food chain, such as shark, swordfish, king mackerel, albacore tuna, and tilefish contain higher concentrations of mercury than others. This is because mercury is stored in the muscle tissues of fish, and when a predatory fish eats another fish, it assumes the entire body burden of mercury in the consumed fish. Since fish are less efficient at depurating than accumulating methylmercury, fish-tissue concentrations increase over time. Thus species that are high on the food chain amass body burdens of mercury that can be ten times higher than the species they consume. This process is called biomagnification. The first occurrence of widespread mercury poisoning in humans occurred this way in Minamata, Japan, now called Minamata disease.
The complexities associated with mercury transport and environmental fate are described by USEPA in their 1997 Mercury Study Report to Congress. Because methylmercury and high levels of elemental mercury can be particularly toxic to unborn or young children, organizations such as the U.S. EPA and FDA recommend that women who are pregnant or plan to become pregnant within the next one or two years, as well as young children avoid eating more than 6 ounces (one average meal) of fish per week.
In the United States the FDA has an action level for methyl mercury in commercial marine and freshwater fish that is 1.0 parts per million (ppm), and in Canada the limit for the total of mercury content is 0.5 ppm. The Got Mercury? website includes a calculator for determining mercury levels in fish.
Species with characteristically low levels of mercury include shrimp, tilapia, salmon, pollock, and catfish (FDA March 2004). The FDA characterizes shrimp, catfish, pollock, salmon, and canned light tuna as low-mercury seafood, although recent tests have indicated that up to 6 percent of canned light tuna may contain high levels.
Further reading
External links
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