Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fishing
usually takes place 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.
HAND GATHERING
SPEARING
NETTING
|
ANGLING
TRAPPING
.Ancient history.
The ancient river Nile was full of fish; fresh and dried
fish were a staple food for much of the population.[14] The Egyptians invented
various implements and methods for fishing and these are clearly illustrated in
tomb scenes, drawings, and papyrus documents. Simple reed boats served for
fishing. Woven nets, weir baskets made from willow branches, harpoons and hook
and line (the hooks having a length of between eight millimetres and eighteen
centimetres) were all being used. By the 12th dynasty, metal hooks with barbs
were being used. As is fairly common today, the fish were clubbed to death
after capture. Nile perch, catfish and eels were among the most important fish.
Some representations hint at fishing being pursued as a pastime.
From ancient representations and literature it is clear that
fishing boats were typically small, lacking a mast or sail, and were only used
close to the shore. There are numerous references to fishing in ancient
literature; in most cases, however, the descriptions of nets and fishing-gear
do not go into detail, and the equipment is described in general terms. An
early example from the Bible in Job 41:7: Canst thou fill his skin with barbed
irons? or his head with fish spears?. Traditional Chinese legends credit the
art of fishing to Fu Xi.
casanatensis (Fishing with nets, tacuinum sanitatis 14th
century)
Fishing scenes are rarely represented in ancient Greek culture,
a reflection of the low social status of fishing in the region. There is a wine
cup, dating from c. 500 BC, that shows a boy crouched on a rock with a
fishing-rod in his right hand and a basket in his left. In the water below
there is a rounded object of the same material with an opening on the top. This
has been identified as a fish-cage used for keeping live fish, or as a
fish-trap. It is clearly not a net. This object is currently in the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston.[15]
In the 2nd century BC, the Greek Polybius's Histories
describes hunting for swordfish by using a harpoon with a barbed and detachable
head.[16]
Around AD 180, Oppian of Corycus composed a Greek didactic
poem on Greco-Roman sea fishing, the Halieutica. This is the earliest such work
to have survived intact to the modern day. Oppian describes various means of
fishing including the use of nets cast from boats, scoop nets held open by a
hoop, spears and tridents, and various traps "which work while their
masters sleep". Oppian's description of fishing with a
"motionless" net is also very interesting:
The fishers set up very light nets of buoyant flax and wheel
in a circle round about while they violently strike the surface of the sea with
their oars and make a din with sweeping blow of poles. At the flashing of the
swift oars and the noise the fish bound in terror and rush into the bosom of
the net which stands at rest, thinking it to be a shelter: foolish fishes
which, frightened by a noise, enter the gates of doom. Then the fishers on
either side hasten with the ropes to draw the net ashore.
Pictorial evidence of Roman fishing comes from
mosaics which show fishing from boats with rod and line as well as nets.
Various species such as conger, lobster, sea urchin, octopus and cuttlefish are
illustrated.[17] In a parody of fishing, a type of gladiator called retiarius
was armed with a trident and a casting-net. He would fight against the murmillo, who
carried a short sword and a helmet with the image of a fish on the front.
The Greco-Roman sea god Neptune is depicted as wielding a
fishing trident.
Dutch fishermen using tridents in the 17th century
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.
Pearl Fishery at Tuticorin camp of paravar, 1662, by Johan
Nieuhof.
In Norse mythology the sea giantess Rán uses a fishing net
to trap lost sailors.
The Moche people of ancient Peru depicted fisherman in their
ceramics.
