42 FISHES AND FISHERY METHODS 



The barbed hook, nets, gaffs, sinkers, and fiber lines were all, according 

 to Radcliff^ used in neolithic times. The history of early Mediterranean 

 culture leaves litlile doubt that many techniques were used by the 

 Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans for commercial fishing, and angling for 

 sport is attributed to the early Egyptians. The Greeks built large traps 

 between the Mediterranean and Black Sea to capture migrating tuna. 

 Use of the hook and line, net, harpoon, and trap is also repK)rted in early 

 Mayan, Aztec, and Chinese fisheries. Spun silk fish lines were used in 

 Ghina as early as 1500b. c. It appears that the net, harpoon, etc., cannot 

 be traced to a particular early culture, but were widespread among 

 primitive peoples throughout the world. 



The methods used in the Stone Age, that is, the hook and line, nets, 

 and traps, still are the main tools used by man to harvest fishes. Obviously 

 there has been great improvement in materials, in the design of nets, 

 in methods of detecting fish, and in the vessels employed to carry man to 

 the fishing grounds. 



Fishing gear used today may be grouped into the following categories : 



(1) Fishing with animals (cormorants, otters, etc.) 



(2) Wounding gear (spears, harpoons, explosives, etc.) 



(3) Gear for gathering sessile animals (shovels, tongs, pumps, rakes, 

 and dredges) 



(4) Traps and barriers (pots, wiers, etc.) 



(5) Hook and line techniques (handlines, longlines, troll) 



(6) Nets (seines, tanglenets, trawls, gillnets, etc.) 



(7) Devices dependent upon the physiological reaction of fish to physi- 

 cal or chemical properties (electricity, air bubbles, light, chemicals, 

 etc.) 



(8) Fishing vessels 



Fishing with Animals 



Cormorants trained to retrieve fish are still used in certain parts of 

 the world. The Japanese and Chinese have used this method for centuries. 

 The wings of birds which are trained from infancy are clipped and a ring 

 placed around the lower end of the necks. The rings prevent the cormo- 

 rants from swallowing larger fish which are retrieved by the trainer. A 

 single fisherman may use from six to a dozen cormorants. In Europe, 

 otters have been used on a limited scale to assist in the capture of fish. 

 The otters are used more in herding or chasing fish into nets rather 

 than for direct capture. A unique use of a fish, the remora, to capture 

 sea turtles is still practiced in tropical seas. The remora has a specialized 

 sucker-like organ which is a modification of the first dorsal fin. By means 



