Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (fresh water or marine), but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques include hand-gathering, spearing, netting, angling, shooting and trapping, as well as more destructive and often illegal techniques such as electrocution, blasting and poisoning.

For other uses, see Fishing (disambiguation).

The term fishing broadly includes catching aquatic animals other than fish, such as crustaceans (shrimp/lobsters/crabs), shellfish, cephalopods (octopus/squid) and echinoderms (starfish/sea urchins). The term is not normally applied to harvesting fish raised in controlled cultivations (fish farming). Nor is it normally applied to hunting aquatic mammals, where terms like whaling and sealing are used instead.

Fishing has been an important part of human culture since hunter-gatherer times, and is one of the few food production activities that have persisted from prehistory into the modern age, surviving both the Neolithic Revolution and successive Industrial Revolutions. In addition to being caught to be eaten for food, fish are caught as recreational pastimes. Fishing tournaments are held, and caught fish are sometimes kept long-term as preserved or living trophies. When bioblitzes occur, fish are typically caught, identified, and then released.

According to the United Nations FAO statistics, the total number of commercial fishers and fish farmers is estimated to be 39.0 million.^[1] Fishing industries and aquaculture provide direct and indirect employment to over 500 million people in developing countries.^[2] In 2005, the worldwide per capita consumption of fish captured from wild fisheries was 14.4 kilograms (32 lb), with an additional 7.4 kilograms (16 lb) harvested from fish farms.^[3]

Contribution of fish to animal protein supply, average 2013-2015

World capture fisheries and aquaculture production 1950 - 2015

A comparison of employment In agriculture, forestry and fishing by region

Environmental factors are mostly related to seafloor topography and obstructions, although tides, currents, waves, winds, and interaction with wildlife are also important.

Operational losses and operator errors can occur even during normal fishing operations.

Problems such as inadequate fisheries management and regulations that do not include adequate controls can hamper collection of ALDFG (e.g. there may be poor access to collection facilities).

Gear loss resulting from conflicts primarily occurs (intentionally or unintentionally) in areas with high concentrations of fishing activities, leading to gear being towed away, fouled, sabotaged or vandalized. Passive and unattended gear such as pots, set gillnets and traps are particularly prone to conflict damage. In the Arctic, conflicts are the most common reason for lost gear.

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Abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear includes netting, mono/multifilament lines, hooks, ropes, floats, buoys, sinkers, anchors, metallic materials and fish aggregating devices (FADs) made of non-biodegradable materials such as concrete, metal and polymers. It has been estimated that global fishing gear losses each year include 5.7% of all fishing nets, 8.6% of all traps and 29% of all lines used. Abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) can have serious impacts on marine organisms through entanglement and ingestion.^[46] The potential for fishing gear to become ALDFG depends on a number of factors including:

Sources[edit]

This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under Cc BY-SA 3.0 IGO (license statement/permission). Text taken from Drowning in Plastics – Marine Litter and Plastic Waste Vital Graphics, United Nations Environment Programme.

Schultz, Ken (1999). . John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-02-862057-2.

Fishing Encyclopedia: Worldwide Angling Guide

Gabriel, Otto; Andres von Brandt (2005). . Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-85238-280-6.

Fish catching methods of the world

Sahrhage, Dietrich; Johannes Lundbeck (1992). A History of Fishing. . ISBN 978-0-387-55332-0.

Springer-Verlag

. Pauly, Daniel (2009). University of British Columbia. Archived from the original on 7 January 2013..