A fisherman or fisher is someone who gathers fish, shellfish, or other animals from a body of water. Although the term usually addresses people who fish commercially or as a means of subsistence, it can also be used to identify recreational fishermen. It may be used to describe both men and women.

Commercial fishing

Most of this growth took place in Asian countries, where four-fifths of world fishers and fish farmers dwell.FAO: Fishing people. Retrieved 7 July 2008.

Most fishermen are men involved in offshore and deep-sea fisheries. Women fish in some regions inshore from small boats or collect shellfish and seaweed. In many artisanal fishing communities, women are responsible for making and repairing nets, post-harvest processing and marketing.

Recreational fishing

"Angling" is a term used to describe fishing with a hook. Commonly, this involves a rod, reel and line. Today it's usually practiced for pleasure.

History

Fishing communities

For some communities, fishing provides not only a source of food and work but also community and cultural identity.

In the New Testament, Jesus is reported to have said to his disciples: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men..

See also

• Fishing
• Sport Fishing
• Aquaculture
• Fish farming
• 3D's Dangerous Jobs

Images

Image:TraditionalFisherman1Ice.JPG|Traditional fisherman, Bolungavík, Iceland Image:Fisherman and his catch Seychelles.jpg|Fisherman and his catch, including small sharks, hooked on hand lines many miles off shore in the Seychelles Image:Shrimpers on horseback.jpg|Shrimpers on horseback, Oostduinkerke, Belgium. Image:Isla Juan Fernandez- Langostas (Lobsters).jpg|Chilean fisherman with two lobsters. Image:Tuna_maguro_Yukinobu_Shibata.JPG|A fisherman in Japan with a tuna. Image:Fisherman-chile.jpg|A fisherman in central Chile Image:Chennai_marina_beach_fisherman.jpg|An Indian fisherman in Chennai Image:Long Island fisherman.jpg|Long Island fisherman, 1983

Further reading

• Fields, Leslie Leyland (editor) (2002) Out On The Deep Blue: Women, Men, and the Oceans They Fish. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0312277260
• Jones, Stephen (2001) Working Thin Waters: Conversations with Captain * Lawrence H. Malloy, Jr. University Press of New England. ISBN 978-1584651031