Naked News

. 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. Among the imitators on the internet:. For example, the expression "fishing expedition" (usually used to describe a line of questioning), describes a case where 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. The initial success of the show's concept spawned several imitators, mostly on the websites, but also including "The Daily Flash", a news program on Playboy TV. On the other hand, fishing with bait or lure sometimes has nuances of catching by deception, possibly with an implication of greed on the part of the victim. Past male anchors are:. For example, in the New Testament, Jesus is reported to have said to his disciples: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Matthew 4:19.

The current male anchors are:. On the one hand, fishing with a net has nuances of gathering by honest effort. Past female anchors are:. Fishing is a widely used as a metaphor though as such it is possibly ambiguous. The current female anchors are:. Fish emulsion is a fertilizer emulsion that is produced from the fluid remains of fish processed for fish oil and fish meal industrially. The female announcers have been featured in almost every media including television (CBS Sunday Morning, The Today Show, The View, Sally Jesse Raphaël, and numerous appearances on Entertainment Tonight and ET Insider) newspapers and magazines, (TV Guide, Playboy) and as guests on multiple radio shows including Howard Stern. Isinglass is a substance obtained from the swim bladders of fish (especially sturgeon), it is used for the clarification of wine and beer.

Since the show's inception in 1999, there has been much turnover among the newscasters, and many guest anchors. Fish glue has long been valued for its use in all manner of products from illuminated manuscripts to the Mongolian war bow. The show features occasional on-the-street interviews by topless newscasters, which are made possible by Ontario's Topfree equality laws. Fish glue is made by boiling the skin, bones and swim bladders of fish. As such, most of the show's crew comes from the Toronto area. Sepia is a pigment made from the inky secretions of cuttlefish. Most of the show's announcers have been recruited through classified ads in alternative newspapers in Toronto. Tyrian purple is a pigment made from marine snails Murex brandaris and Murex trunculus.

It was said that events like the 2005 Indian Ocean Earthquake were reported in the nude, while news of the London bombings as well as all follow-up reports and interviews done in the following days, were done fully clothed both in studio and in London. Sea horse, star fish, sea urchin and sea cucumber are used in traditional Chinese medicine. This too has proven to be controversial as observers have complained that stories that warranted "fully-clothed" coverage were, in fact, Western or "Eurocentric" tragedies, while disasters happening elsewhere in the world were deemed "less important." In actuality, the producers of Naked News have instituted a basic rule in this area: No disrobing during any news coverage of a major tragedy anywhere in the world. Sharkskin leather is used in the manufacture of hilts of traditional Japanese swords. The anchors have all since continued the tradition of reading tragic events fully clothed. These skins are also used to make leather. She did not undress when she read the news of the death of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, nor for the September 11, 2001 program (which was not aired). Sharkskin and rayskin which are covered with, in effect, tiny teeth (dermal denticles) were used for the purposes that sandpaper currently is.

Sinclair herself has questioned the appropriateness of disrobing while reading of tragic events. Traditional methods of pearl hunting are now virtually extinct. Critics charge that the nudity is little more than a gimmick that trivializes important news events, while proponents argue that such gimmicks exist on most television news already; nudity is just a particularly successful one. Pearls and mother-of-pearl are valued for their lustre. Naked News has generated some controversy among the media, and even within its own staff. There are several organizations devoted to improving the methods of collecting, handling, transporting, exporting and farming of wild and domesticated live food fish, as well as freshwater and marine tropical fish destined for aquaria. Victoria Sinclair, the first NN announcer and one of only two with journalism experience, has also received some praise for her newsreading ability. Such techniques are used most often by researchers for observation and study but are also used by those who collect fish for the aquarium trade.

Naked News has earned some praise from established journalists for its coverage of international news items not often covered in mainstream news media. Fish can also be collected in ways that do not injure them such as in a seine net or by placing an electric current into the water. The show is or has been available on pay-per-view or by subscription in various markets in the U.S., Australia, Canada, the UK, Ireland, and even France (dubbed into French). This brought the value of their live food fish trade industry to US$400 million as reported by the World Resources Institute^[24]. Its offshoot Naked News TV aired as a late-night television series on the Toronto television station Citytv, and (until February 2005) on British satellite channel Get Lucky TV. Hong Kong, for example, is estimated to have imported in excess of 15,000 tonnes of live food fish in 2000. Although it was originally targeted towards female viewers (at one point said to be 30% of the website's audience), the male show now openly promotes itself as news from a gay perspective. The prevalence of cultural beliefs and consumer standards helps to drive the demand for the live food fish trade.

It does not however enjoy the same popularity and fame, and there are currently more female than male anchors. Suiting customer preference, this practice makes the seafood higher in quality and better in taste. A male version of the show was created in 2001 to parallel the female version. The majority of live fish kept at seafood restaurants, however, are desired for the freshness of the seafood, being killed only immediately before being cooked. By 2002, only one news segment could be viewed freely, and by 2004, no free content remained on the website. Some seafood restaurants keep live fish in aquaria for display or for cultural beliefs. Part of the large amounts of web traffic in the site's early days was because the entire newscast could be viewed for free, though subscribers got access to a higher bandwidth feed and other extras. Live fish are collected for the international live food fish trade.

This number did not refer to the number of actual subscribers of the site, which was believed to be vastly lower. Fish oil is valued as a dietary supplement. During the height of its popularity, the website was promoted as receiving over 6 million hits per month. In some cultures, for example China, Japan, and Vietnam, certain species of jellyfish are consumed^[23]. The website was popularized entirely by word of mouth, and quickly became an internet meme. Sea cucumber is considered a delicacy in Chinese cooking and is often served at New Year’s feasts, usually in soups^[22]. Naked News was conceived in 1998 and debuted in 1999 as a web-based news service and featuring an all-female cast. Squid and octopus are valued as food.

. In some cultures, roe is considered a delicacy, for example caviar from the sturgeon. Regardless of the gender of the anchor, the male demographic is particularly high for the show. Eggs, called roe, of various species may be eaten; roe comes from fish and certain marine invertebrates, such as sea urchins and shrimp. Naked News TV is its offshoot pay-per-view or subscription service. Shelled molluscs include the clam, mussel, oyster, winkle and scallop; some crustaceans are the shrimp, lobster, crayfish, and crab. The male and female anchors read the news fully nude or strip as they present their news segments. Shellfish include shelled molluscs and crustaceans used as food.

Naked News, billing itself as "the program with nothing to hide", is a subscription website featuring a real television newscast prepared in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The flesh of many fish are primarily valued as a source of food; there are many edible species of fish as well as other sea food. Radio Tango - Oslo, Norway radio station once featured stripping female weather readers on their website. For example: sardines. Comedie - This program on a French cable TV network ran a series promos featuring males and females casually undressing as they read jokes. Canning, developed during the 19th century has also had a significant impact on fishing by allowing seasonal catches of fish that are possibly far from large centres of population to be exploited. www.strip-news.de, a now-defunct German language webcast with both male and female announcers. Refrigeration and freezing also allow the catch to be distributed to markets further inland, reaching customers who previously would have had access only to dried or salted sea fish.

Robert Milan. The development of refrigeration and freezing technologies transformed the commercial fishing industry: fishing vessels could be larger, spending more time away from port and therefore accessing fish stocks at a much greater distance. Warren Michaels. In the past, fishing vessels were restricted in range by the simple consideration that the catch must be returned to port before it spoils and becomes worthless. Brock Stern. See:. Brendan Tanner. All of these techniques are still used today but the more modern techniques of freezing and canning have taken on a large importance.

Joshua Holt - Recently announced he was gay in the pages of The Advocate magazine. Ancient methods of preserving fish included drying , salting, pickling and smoking. Cole McQuade. Prices for fish caught in North American "pay to fish" waters are generally in the range of $0.10 to $0.20 per cm or from $5.00 to $10.00 per kg. Derek Shaw. In North America, establishments usually charge for the fish caught, by length or by weight, rather than for access to the site although some establishments charge both types of fees. Malcolm Matisse. In the United Kingdom, commercial fisheries of this sort charge access fees, with prices ranging from £2 to £25 per day.

Jack Lange. These provide fishing opportunities outside of the permitted seasons and quotas applied to public waters. Jeremy Chase. In addition to the above, commercial fishing can also be thought of as encompassing "pay to fish" enterprises, which provide anglers with controlled access to stocked lakes, ponds or canals. Raoul Santos. Also see Krill fishery. Lucas Tyler - The first male anchor of the show, now also producer and director, said to bear a strong resemblance to NBC newsman Matt Lauer. Some common commercial techniques today are trawling, seining, driftnetting, handlining, longlining, gillnetting, and diving.

Sarah Winters. 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. Kelli Graham. Fishing methods vary according to the region, the species being fished for, and the technology available to the fishermen. Kaye Grant. Many new restrictions are often integrated with varieties of fishing allocation schemes (quotas), and international treaties that have sought to limit the fishing effort and, sometimes, capture efficiency. Gretchen Frazier. Commercial fishing methods have become very efficient using large nets and sea-going processing factories.

Allyson Jones. 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. Erin Sherwood. Commercial fishing provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often pursue fish far into the ocean under adverse conditions. Devon Calwell - At age 19, she is the youngest cast member. Main article: Fishing industry. She is unrelated to the Italian model of the same name. Laws made to control recreational fishing frequently also attempt to control the harvest of other aquatic species, such as frogs and turtles.

Carmen Russo - At age 42, she is the oldest cast member. Noodling and Trout tickling may be pursued as a recreation. Holly Weston - She continued on the show throughout her pregnancy. Big-game fishing describes fishing from boats to catch large open-water species such as tuna, sharks and marlin. Brooke Roberts. Other competitions is purely on length with mandatory catch and release, either longest fish or total length is documented with camera and a mandatory sticker, of more fair since it’s hard to weigh a living fish accurately in a boat. Diane Foster. Competitors are most often professional fishermen who are supported by commercial endorsements.

Erica Stevens. This sport evolved from local fishing contests into large competitive circuits, especially in North America. Samantha Page. A recent phenomenon of recreational fishing are fishing competitions (tournaments) where fishermen compete for prizes based on the total weight of a given species of fish caught within a predetermined time. Ashley Jenning. Catch and release, in combination with techniques such as strong tackle (to get fish in quickly, for release in good condition), careful handling of fish and barbless hooks (to reduce physical damage) and quick release lead systems such as korda quick release system or the e.s.p variety may be useful tools in this endeavour. Yukiko Kimura. The only way for growing numbers of recreational fishermen to continue fishing is to reduce their impact on fish populations.

Cameron Shore. The fish which suffer most are those of large, slow growing species such as carp. Gia Gomez. Recreational fishermen can have profound deleterious effects on fish stocks in commercial lakes, this is due to anglers with poor knowledge of how to protect the fish from damage or stress once out of the water. Christine Kerr. Opponents would prefer to ban or to severely restricting angling, a suggestion most anglers find unpalatable. Michelle Pantoliano - Former radio & TV broadcaster from New York City. Proponents of catch and release also contend that the practice is increasingly necessary in order to conserve fish stocks in the face of burgeoning human populations, mounting fishing pressure and worsening habitat degradation.

Lily Kwan. Keeping fish trapped over long period of time creates a lot of noise which makes it hard to single out the effect of the catch from the effect of the chosen methodology. Sandrine Renard. The difficulty of doing such experiments is closely linked to the fact that negative effects of being exposed to fishing gears (here barbless hooks) develop over long time. Roxanne West. Scientific studies show a wide range of survival, depending on species, environmental conditions, fish density and research design (methodology). "Athena the Greek". In a real sense, the suitability of catch and release is an ethical consideration and, as such, a science-based conclusion on the issue is unavailable.

Athena King - a.k.a. They most likey do not have nerves in their due to that they eat animals such as crayfish that can pinch. April Torres. There is also some research that shows certin types of fish such as catfish, do not have nerves around their mouth. 2002. Anglers deny this charge, pointing out that fish commonly feed on hard and spiky prey items, and as such can be expected to have tough mouths, and also that some fish will re-take a lure they have just been hooked on, a behaviour that is unlikely if being hooked was painful. 2001, and returned in Nov. The practice, however, is viewed by some with disapproval as they consider it unethical to inflict pain on a fish for fun or sport and not for reasons of capturing food.

Sinclair left the show in Sept. In angling, it is sometimes expected or required that fish all be returned to the water (catch and release). Victoria Sinclair - The first NN reporter, she originally performed solo before additional news anchors were added. Kayaks are extremely stealthy and can allow anglers to reach areas unfishable from land or by conventional boat. Kayak fisherman fish from sea kayaks in an attempt to level the playing field with fish and to further challenge their abilities. One method of growing popularity is kayak fishing.

This practice is known as angling. The most common form of recreational fishing is done with a rod, line and hooks attached to any of a wide range of lures or baits. Typically, these prohibit the use of nets and the catching of fish with hooks not in the mouth. Recreational fishing has conventions, rules, licensing restrictions and laws that limit the way in which fish may be caught.

Recreational fishing and the closely related (nearly synonymous) sport fishing describe fishing for pleasure or competition. Main article: Angling. Protective equipment must be worn to isolate the operator and prevent electrocution. They are typically equipped with a "dead-man switch" and a tilt switch to disable the device if the unit is tipped or the operator incapacitated.

Rigs can be battery powered back-packs or powered by a generator if they are mounted in a boat. Smaller fish also require shorter pulses, closer together, while large fish should have longer pulses at lower power and longer gaps between pulses. Also the smaller the fish, and consequently the less surface area in contact with the water, the higher the current required to produce galvanotaxis. Dissolved minerals in the water can decrease resistance causing less of the current to pass through the fish, whereas fish recently entering fresh water from the ocean have high salinity and are more prone to electric shock.

Techniques for setting pulse length and patterns, current and voltage require great skill to fish effectively without killing or injuring fish if they are to be left unharmed. A low voltage or short pulse with long gaps will cause the fish to swim away from the device, and high voltage or long pulses with short rests can cause galvanonarcosis, or unconsciousness. A gated pulse of direct current is used to cause muscular contractions in a fish, called galvanotaxis, causing them to turn towards the source of the electrical current and swim towards it when correct pulse speeds and durations are used, along with correct current. A relatively new fishing technique is electrofishing, typically used for stream classification surveys and catching brood stock for hatcheries, or making estimates of populations in a body of water.

. Blast fishing is also illegal in many waterways around the world. Explosions are particularly harmful to coral reefs^[21]. The explosions indiscriminately kill large numbers of fish and other marine organisms in the vicinity and can damage or destroy the physical environment.

Fish are killed by the shock from the blast and are then skimmed from the surface or collected from the bottom. Dynamite or blast fishing, is done easily and cheaply with dynamite or homemade bombs made from locally available materials. The high concentrations of cyanide on reefs so harvested damages the coral polyps and has also resulted in cases of cyanide poisoning among local fishermen and their families. Those that survive often die from shock or from massive digestive damage.

Many fish caught in this fashion die either immediately or in shipping. This illegal fishing occurs mainly in or near the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Caribbean to supply the 2 million marine aquarium owners in the world. Cyanides are used to capture live fish near coral reefs for the aquarium and seafood market. Some of these poisons paralyse the fish, others are thought to work by removing oxygen from the water^[20].

Many hunter gatherer cultures use poisonous plants to stun fish so that they become easy to collect by hand. Labrador Retrievers have been used by fishermen to assist in bringing nets to shore; the dog would grab the floating corks on the ends of the nets and pull them to shore. Dating from the 1500s in Portugal, Portuguese Water Dogs were used by fishermen to send messages between boats, to retrieve fish and articles from the water, and to guard the fishing boats. However, these accounts are probably apocryphal, and based on earlier accounts no longer extant.

The earliest surviving records of the practice are Peter Martyr d'Anghera's 1511 accounts of the second voyage of Columbus to the New World (1494)^[19]. The practice of tethering a remora, a sucking fish, to a fishing line and using the remora to capture sea turtles probably originated in the Indian Ocean. The fish are instead collected by the fisherman^[18]. Fishermen use the natural fish-hunting instincts of the cormorants to catch fish, but a metal ring placed round the bird's neck prevents large, valuable fish being swallowed.

In China and Japan, the practice of cormorant fishing is thought to date back some 1300 years. Similar traps are used in many areas to capture bait fish. The pots are baited and lowered into the water and checked daily. Pot traps such as the lobster trap may be constructed in various shapes, each is a mesh box designed with a convoluted entrance that makes entry much easier than exit.

Pot traps are typically used to catch crustaceans such as crabs, lobsters and crayfish. Twice a day the adults Wagenya people pull out these baskets to check whether there are any fish caught; in which case somebody will dive into the river to fetch it. It is a very selective fishing, as these baskets are quite big and only large size fish are trapped. To these tripods are anchored large baskets, which are lowered in the rapids to "sieve" the waters for fish.

These tripods are anchored on the holes naturally carved in the rock by the water current. The Wagenya people, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, build a huge system of wooden tripods across the river. Basket weirs are about 2 m long and comprise two wicker cones, one inside the other — easy to get into and hard to get out^[17]. They are shown in medieval illustrations and surviving examples have been found.

Basket weir fish traps were widely used in ancient times. The Magna Carta includes a clause requiring that they be removed:. Such fish traps were evidently controversial in medieval England. 'V' shaped structures in rivers could be as long as 60 m and worked by directing fish towards fish traps or nets.

In medieval Europe, large fishing weir structures were constructed from wood posts and wattle fences. This involves the construction of a temporary dam resulting in a drop in the water levels downstream -- allowing fish to be easily collected^[15]. A technique called dam fishing is used by the Baka pygmies. Somewhat similar stone wall traps were constructed by native American Pit River people in north-eastern California^[14].

Traps at different levels in the marsh came into operation as the water level rose and fell. The eels were caught by a variety of traps including stone walls constructed across canals with a net placed across an opening in the wall. The purpose of these canals was the encouragement and catching of eels, a fish of short coastal rivers (as opposed to rivers of the Murray-Darling system). In southern Victoria, indigenous people created an elaborate systems of canals, some more than 2 km long.

The Brewarinna fish traps caught huge numbers of migratory native fish as the Barwon River rose in flood and then fell. The largest and best known were the Brewarrina fish traps on the Barwon River at Brewarrina in New South Wales, which fortunately are at least partly preserved^[13]. Unfortunately, most have been completely or partially destroyed. Here, where water levels fluctuate seasonally, indigenous people constructed ingenious, stone, fish traps^[12].

Indigenous Australians were, prior to European colonisation, most populous in Australia's better-watered areas such as the Murray-Darling river system of the south-east. There are essentially two types of trap, a permanent or semi-permanent structure placed in a river or tidal area and pot-traps that are baited to attract prey and periodically lifted. Traps are culturally almost universal and seem to have been independently invented many times. It is practised by hunter-gatherers such as the Inuit and by sportsmen in many cold climates.

Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and hooks through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Main article: Ice fishing.. Kites can also be used for trolling a lure through the water. Similarly, for boat owners, kites provide a way to fish in areas where it is not safe to navigate such as shallows or coral reefs where fish may be plentiful.

Kites can provide the boatless fishermen access to waters that would otherwise be available only to boats. The fishing line may be made from coconut fibre and the lure made from spiders webs^[11]. Those of Tobi Island are a large leaf stiffened by the ribs of the fronds of the coconut palm. Suitable kites may be of very simple construction.

It is not clear whether kite fishing was communicated or of independent invention. Kite fishing was invented in China and was (and is) also known to the people of New Guinea and other Pacific Islands. Long-line fishing is a commercial fishing technique that uses hundreds or even thousands of baited hooks hanging from a single line. This technique allows anglers to cover a large body of water in a short time.

Trolling is also a freshwater angling technique most often used to catch Trout. Trolling from a moving boat is a technique of big-game fishing and is used when fishing from boats to catch large open-water species such as tuna and marlin. Trolling is a technique in which a fishing lure on a line is drawn through the water. Fishing with a hook and line is called angling.

The tightening of the line would fix it cross-wise in the quarry's stomach or gullet and so the capture would be assured. A gorge is buried in the bait such that it would be swallowed end first. A fishing hook will pierce the mouthparts of a fish and may be barbed to make escape less likely. Fish are caught with a fishing line by encouraging a fish to bite upon a fish hook or a gorge.

Scallop dredging is very destructive to the seabed, and nowadays is often replaced by mariculture or by scuba diving to collect the scallops. They tend to have the form of a scoop made of chain mesh and they are towed by a fishing boat. There are types of dredges used for collecting scallops or oysters from the seabed. They may continue to be a menace to wildlife for many years.

Ghost nets are nets that have been lost at sea. Thus trapped, the fish can neither advance trough the net nor retreat. A gillnet catches fish which try to pass through it by snagging on the gill covers. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats.

Danish seine is a method which has some similarities with trawling. A simple and commonly used fishing technique is beach seining, where the seine net is operated from the shore. In purse seine fishing the net hangs vertically in the water by attaching weights along the bottom edge and floats along the top. A seine is a large fishing net that may be arranged in a number of different ways.

The nets are dipped into the water and raised again, but otherwise cannot be moved. Huge mechanical contrivances hold out horizontal nets of 20 m or more across. The Chinese fishing nets (Cheena vala) found at Kochi in India are an unusual method of fishing. When a fish is caught, each hauls up his end of the net until the two coracles are brought to touch and the fish is then secured.

Coracle-fishing is performed by two men, each seated in his coracle and with one hand holding the net while, with the other, he plies his paddle. Fish are caught as the net is hauled back in^[10]. The net is thrown by hand in such a manner that it spreads out on the water and sinks. Sizes vary up to about 4 m diameter.

A casting net is circular with a weighted periphery. In England, hand netting is the only legal way of catching eels and has been practised for thousands of years on the River Parrett and River Severn. Such a net used by an angler to aid in landing a captured fish is known as a landing net. A small hand net held open by a hoop and possibly on the end of a long stiff handle has been known since antiquity and may be used for sweeping up fish near the water surface.

Modern nets are usually made of artificial polyamides like nylon, although nets of organic polyamides such as wool or silk thread were common until recently and are still used in certain areas. All fishing nets are meshes usually formed by knotting a relatively thin thread. Hunter gatherers may use the bow to kill fish in shallow water. With practice, divers are able to hold their breath for up to four minutes; of course, a diver with underwater breathing equipment can dive for much longer periods.

Traditional spear fishing is restricted to shallow waters, but the development of the speargun has made the method much more efficient. A small trident type spear with a long handle is used in the American South and Midwest for "gigging" bullfrogs with a bright light at night, or for gigging carp and other trash fish in the shallows. Spear fishing is an ancient method of fishing and may be conducted with an ordinary spear or a specialised variant such as an eel spear^[8][9] or the trident. Catching Fish by hand is currently illegal in the state of Kansas.

Hand-line fishing is a technique requiring a fishing line with a weight and one or more lure-like hooks. Pearl diving is the practice of hunting for oysters by free-diving to depths of up to 30 m. Divers can catch lobsters by hand. Trout binning is a method of fishing, possibly fictional, performed with a sledgehammer^[7].

In the British Isles, the practice of catching trout by hand is known as trout tickling; it is an art mentioned several times in the plays of Shakespeare. In the USA catching catfish in this way is known as noodling. It is possible to fish with minimal equipment by using only the hands. In traditional Chinese history, history begins with three semi-mystical and legendary individuals who taught the Chinese the arts of civilization around 2800-2600 BC: of these Fu Hsi was reputed to be the inventor of writing, hunting, trapping, and fishing.

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. Oppian’s description of fishing with a "motionless" net is also very interesting:. 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". This is the earliest such work to have survived intact to the modern day.

Oppian of Corycus, a Greek author wrote a major treatise on sea fishing, the Halieulica or Halieutika, composed between 177 and 180. The Greek historian Polybius ((ca 203 BC-120 BC), in his Histories, describes hunting for swordfish by using a harpoon with a barbed and detachable head^[6]. An early example from the Bible in Job 41:7: Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?^[5]. 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.

The Greco-Roman sea god Neptune is depicted as wielding a fishing trident. He would fight against the murmillo, who carried a short sword and a helmet with the image of a fish on the front. In a parody of fishing, a type of gladiator called retiarius was armed with a trident and a casting-net. Various species such as conger, lobster, sea urchin, octopus and cuttlefish are illustrated^[4].

Pictorial evidence of Roman fishing comes from mosaics which show fishing from boats with rod and line as well as nets. This object is currently in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston^[3]. It is clearly not a net. This has been identified as a fish-cage used for keeping live fish, or as a fish-trap.

In the water below, a rounded object of the same material with an opening on the top. There is a wine cup, dating from 510–500 BC, that shows a boy crouched on a rock with a fishing-rod in his right hand and a basket in his left. Fishing scenes are rarely represented in ancient Greek culture, a reflection of the low social status of fishing. Some representations hint at fishing being pursued as a pastime.

Nile perch, catfish and eels were among the most important fish. As is fairly common today, the fish were clubbed to death after capture. By the 12th dynasty, metal hooks with barbs were being used. 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.

Simple reed boats served for fishing. The Egyptians invented various implements and methods for fishing and these are clearly illustrated in tomb scenes, drawings, and papyrus documents. The ancient river Nile was full of fish; fresh and dried fish were a staple food for much of the population^[2]. There is a controversial proposal called the aquatic ape hypothesis which proposes that the ancestors of modern humans went through one or more periods of time living in a semi-aquatic setting and that they gathered most of their food from shallow coastal or other waters before their descendants returned to a more land-based existence.

Fishing may even pre-date the development of modern humans. With the new technologies of farming and pottery came the basic forms of most fishing methods known today. The Neolithic culture and technology spread worldwide between about 8,000 and 4,000 years ago. However, where there are a few 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.

During this time, most people lived a hunter-gather lifestyle and were, of necessity, constantly on the move. We know from archaeological features such as shell middens^[1], discarded fish bones and cave paintings that sea foods were important and consumed in significant quantities. Fishing is a very ancient practice that dates back at least to the Mesolithic period which began about 10,000 years ago. .

An organized fishing effort, typically centred around a particular commercially valuable species, is known as a fishery. Fishing is an ancient and worldwide practice with many techniques and traditions, and it has been transformed by modern technological developments. The term fishing is usually not applied to the hunting of aquatic mammals such as whales. By extension, the term fishing is also applied to hunting for other aquatic animals such as various types of shellfish as well as squid, octopus, turtles, frogs and some edible marine invertebrates.

Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish. Cod: stockfish (air dried), lutefisk (soaked in lye). Salmon: smoked salmon, cured salmon, and gravlax (fermented). Herring: kipper (salted and smoked), surströmming (fermented), rollmops (pickled), soused (salted).

Haddock: Arbroath Smokie (lightly smoked).