Fishing

 ( Articles Containing Video Clips ) 

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (freshwater or Marine ecosystem), but may also be caught from Fish stocking bodies of water such as Fish pond, , park and . Fishing techniques include trawling, Longline fishing, jigging, hand-gathering, Spearfishing, Fishing net, angling, Bowfishing and Fish trap, as well as more destructive and often illegal techniques such as Electrofishing, Blast fishing and Cyanide fishing.

The term fishing is also used more broadly to include catching other than fish, such as (shrimp//), shellfish, (octopus/squid) and (starfish/). The term is not normally applied to harvesting fish raised in Aquaculture (Fish farming). Nor is it normally applied to hunting , where terms like whaling and Seal hunting are used instead.

Fishing has been an important part of Culture since hunter-gatherer times. It is one of the few Food industry activities that has persisted from prehistory into the modern age, surviving both the Neolithic Revolution and successive Industrial Revolutions. In addition to fishing for food, people commonly fish as a recreational pastime. Fishing tournaments are held, and caught fish are sometimes kept long-term as Taxidermy or Fishkeeping Trophy hunting. When occur, fish are typically caught, identified, and then released.

According to the United Nations FAO statistics, the total number of commercial fishers and Fish farming is estimated to be 39.0 million.

able to catch more fish.

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.

---

Trawling

The British dogger was a very early type of sailing trawler from the 17th century, but the modern fishing trawler was developed in the 19th century, at the English fishing port of Brixham. By the early 19th century, the fishers at Brixham needed to expand their fishing area further than ever before due to the ongoing depletion of stocks that was occurring in the overfishing waters of South Devon. The Brixham trawler that evolved there was of a sleek build and had a tall gaff rig, which gave the vessel sufficient speed to make long-distance trips out to the fishing grounds in the ocean. They were also sufficiently robust to be able to tow large trawls in deep water. The great trawling fleet that built up at Brixham earned the village the title of 'Mother of Deep-Sea Fisheries'.

This revolutionary design made large-scale trawling in the ocean possible for the first time, resulting in a massive migration of fishers from the ports in the south of England, to villages further north, such as Scarborough, Hull, Grimsby, Harwich and Great Yarmouth, that were points of access to the large fishing grounds in the Atlantic Ocean.

The small village of Grimsby grew to become the largest fishing port in the world Days out: "Gone fishing in Grimsby" The Independent, 8 September 2002 by the mid 19th century. An Act of Parliament was first obtained in 1796, which authorised the construction of new quays and dredging of the Haven to make it deeper. It was only in 1846, with the tremendous expansion in the fishing industry, that the Grimsby Docks was formed. The foundation stone for the Royal Dock was laid by Albert the Prince consort in 1849. The dock covered and was formally opened by Queen Victoria in 1854 as the first modern fishing port.

The elegant Brixham trawler spread across the world, influencing fishing fleets everywhere. By the end of the 19th century, there were over 3,000 fishing trawlers in commission in Britain, with almost 1,000 at Grimsby. These trawlers were sold to fishers around Europe, including from the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Twelve trawlers went on to form the nucleus of the German fishing fleet.

The earliest steam-powered fishing boats first appeared in the 1870s and used the trawl system of fishing as well as lines and drift nets. These were large boats, usually in length with a beam of around . They weighed 40–50 tons and travelled at . David Allen designed and made the earliest purpose-built fishing vessels in Leith, Scotland in March 1875, when he converted a drifter to steam power. In 1877, he built the first screw propeller steamship in the world.

Steam trawlers were introduced at Grimsby and Hull in the 1880s. In 1890 it was estimated that there were 20,000 men on the North Sea. The steam drifter was not used in the herring fishery until 1897. The last sailing fishing trawler was built in 1925 in Grimsby. Trawler designs adapted as the way they were powered changed from sail to coal-fired steam by World War I to Diesel engine and turbines by the end of World War II.

In 1931, the first powered drum was created by Laurie Jarelainen. The drum was a circular device that was set to the side of the boat and would draw in the nets. Since World War II, radio navigation aids and Fishfinder have been widely used. The first trawlers fished over the side, rather than over the stern. The first purpose-built stern trawler was Fairtry built in 1953 at Aberdeen, Scotland. The ship was much larger than any other trawlers then in operation and inaugurated the era of the 'super trawler'. As the ship pulled its nets over the stern, it could lift out a much greater haul of up to 60 tons. The ship served as a basis for the expansion of 'super trawlers' around the world in the following decades.

---

Recreational fishing

The early evolution of fishing as recreation is not clear. For example, there is anecdotal evidence for fly fishing in Japan. However, fly fishing was likely to have been a means of survival, rather than recreation. The earliest English essay on recreational fishing was published in 1496, by Juliana Berners, the prioress of the Benedictine Sopwell Priory. The essay was titled Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle,Berners, Dame Juliana (1496) A treatyse of fysshynge wyth an Angle (transcription by Risa S. Bear). and included detailed information on fishing waters, the construction of fishing rod and lines, and the use of natural baits and artificial flies.Berners, Dame Juliana. (2008). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 20 June 2008, from target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Encyclopædia Britannica Online

Recreational fishing took a great leap forward after the English Civil War, where a newly found interest in the activity left its mark on the many books and treatises that were written on the subject at the time. Leonard Mascall in 1589 wrote A booke of Fishing with Hooke and Line along with many others he produced in his life on game and wildlife in England at the time. The Compleat Angler was written by Izaak Walton in 1653 (although Walton continued to add to it for a quarter of a century) and described the fishing in the Derbyshire Wye. It was a celebration of the art and spirit of fishing in prose and verse. A second part to the book was added by Walton's friend Charles Cotton.

Charles Kirby designed an improved fishing hook in 1655 that remains relatively unchanged to this day. He went on to invent the Kirby bend, a distinctive hook with an offset point, still commonly used today.

Stan L. Ulanski (2025). 9780813922102, University of Virginia Press. . ISBN 9780813922102

The 18th century was mainly an era of consolidation of the techniques developed in the previous century. Running rings began to appear along the fishing rods, which gave anglers greater control over the cast line. The rods themselves were also becoming increasingly sophisticated and specialised for different roles. Jointed rods became common from the middle of the century and bamboo came to be used for the top section of the rod, giving it much greater strength and flexibility.

The industry also became commercialised – rods and tackle were sold at the haberdashers store. After the Great Fire of London in 1666, artisans moved to Redditch which became a centre of production of fishing-related products from the 1730s. Onesimus Ustonson established his shop in 1761, and his establishment remained a market leader for the next century. He received a royal warrant from three successive monarchs starting with King George IV. He also invented the fishing reel. The commercialization of the industry came at a time of expanded interest in fishing as a recreational hobby for members of the aristocracy.

The impact of the Industrial Revolution was first felt in the manufacture of fly lines. Instead of anglers twisting their lines – a laborious and time-consuming process – the new textile spinning machines allowed for a variety of tapered lines to be easily manufactured and marketed.

British fly fishing continued to develop in the 19th century, with the emergence of fly fishing clubs, along with the appearance of several books on the subject of fly tying and fly fishing techniques.

By the mid to late 19th century, expanding leisure opportunities for the middle and lower classes began to have an effect on fly fishing, which steadily grew in mass appeal. The expansion of the railway network in Britain allowed the less affluent for the first time to take weekend trips to the seaside or rivers for fishing. Richer ventured further abroad. The large rivers of Norway replete with large stocks of salmon began to attract fishers from England in large numbers in the middle of the century – Jones's guide to Norway, and salmon-fisher's pocket companion, published in 1848, was written by Frederic Tolfrey and was a popular guide to the country.

Modern reel design had begun in England during the latter part of the 18th century, and the predominant model in use was known as the 'Nottingham reel'. The reel was a wide drum that spooled out freely and was ideal for allowing the bait to drift a long way out with the current. Geared multiplying reels never successfully caught on in Britain, but had more success in the United States, where George Snyder of Kentucky modified similar models into his bait-casting reel, the first American-made design in 1810.

The material used for the rod itself changed from the heavy woods native to England to lighter and more elastic varieties imported from abroad, especially from South America and the West Indies. Bamboo rods became the generally favoured option from the mid-19th century, and several strips of the material were cut from the cane, milled into shape, and then glued together to form the light, strong, hexagonal rods with a solid core that were superior to anything that preceded them. George Cotton and his predecessors fished their flies with long rods, and light lines allowing the wind to do most of the work of getting the fly to the fish.

Tackle design began to improve in the 1880s. The introduction of new woods to the manufacture of fly rods made it possible to cast flies into the wind on silk lines, instead of horse hair. These lines allowed for a much greater casting distance. However, these early fly lines proved troublesome as they had to be coated with various dressings to make them float and needed to be taken off the reel and dried every four hours or so to prevent them from becoming waterlogged. Another negative consequence was that it became easy for the much longer line to get into a tangle – this was called a 'tangle' in Britain, and a 'backlash' in the US. This problem spurred the invention of the regulator to evenly spool the line out and prevent tangling.

The American, Charles F. Orvis, designed and distributed a novel reel and fly design in 1874, described by reel historian Jim Brown as the "benchmark of American reel design," and the first fully modern fly reel.Brown, Jim. A Treasury of Reels: The Fishing Reel Collection of The American Museum of Fly Fishing. Manchester, Vermont: The American Museum of Fly Fishing, 1990.Schullery, Paul. The Orvis Story: 150 Years of an American Sporting Tradition. Manchester, Vermont, The Orvis Company, Inc., 2006

Albert Illingworth, 1st Baron Illingworth a textiles magnate, patented the modern form of fixed-spool spinning reel in 1905. When casting Illingworth's reel design, the line was drawn off the leading edge of the spool but was restrained and rewound by a line pickup, a device which orbits around the stationary spool. Because the line did not have to pull against a rotating spool, much lighter lures could be cast than with conventional reels.

The development of inexpensive fiberglass rods, synthetic fly lines, and monofilament leaders in the early 1950s revived the popularity of fly fishing.

Fishing techniques include hand gathering, spearfishing, fish net, angling, bowfishing and fish trap, as well as less common techniques such as fishing gaff, snagging, clubbing and the use of specially trained animals such as cormorants and otter fishing. There are also destructive fishing techniques (such as electrofishing, blast fishing and cyanide fishing) that can do irreversible damage to the local by killing/sterilizing entire fish stocks, habitat destruction and/or upsetting the equilibrium of interspecific competitions, and such practices are often deemed illegal fishing and liable to criminal punishments.

Recreational, commercial and artisan fishing fishers use different techniques, and also, sometimes, the same techniques. Recreational fishers fish for pleasure, sport, or to provide food for themselves, 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. Usually, recreational fishers use angling methods and commercial fishers use netting methods. A modern development is to fish with the assistance of a drone. Fishing with a drone Stuff, 15 December 2015.

Why a fish bites a baited hook or lure involves several factors related to the sensory physiology, behaviour, feeding ecology, and biology of the fish as well as the environment and characteristics of the bait/hook/lure. There is an intricate link between various fishing techniques and knowledge about the fish and their behaviour including Fish migration, Forage fish and Oceanic habitats. The effective use of fishing techniques often depends on this additional knowledge.Keegan, William F (1986) New Series, Volume. 88, No. 1., pp. 92–107. Some fishers follow Solunar theory which claim that fish feeding patterns are influenced by the position of the sun and the moon.

Tackle that is attached to the end of a fishing line is collectively called terminal tackle. These include hooks, sinkers, floats, leader lines, fishing swivel, split rings, and any wires, snaps, beads, spoons, blades, spinners and clevises used to attach spinner blades to fishing lures. People also tend to use dead or live bait fish as another form of fishing bait.

According to the FAO, in 2004 there were four million commercial fishing vessels.FAO 2007 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. These boats are used by artisan fishers.

It is difficult to estimate how many recreational fishing boats there are, although the number is high. The term is fluid since some recreational boats may also be 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 Fisherman periodically climbs aboard with the intent to catch a fish. Fish are caught for recreational purposes from boats which range from , , kayaks, , stand up paddleboards, and small Dinghy to runabouts, and cruising yachts to large, hi-tech and luxurious Big-game fishing rigs.NOAA: Sport fishing boat Larger boats, purpose-built with recreational fishing in mind, usually have large, open cockpits at the stern, designed for convenient fishing.

The estimated global number of recreational fishers varies from 220 million to a maximum number of 700 million fishers globally, which is thought to be double the number of individuals working as commercial fishers. In the United States alone it was estimated that 50.1 million people engaged in fishing activities in both saltwater and freshwater environments.

Big-game fishing is fishing from boats to catch large open-water species such as swordfish, tuna, , and marlin. Sportfishing (sometimes game fishing) is 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 tarpon, sailfish, mackerel, grouper and many others.