commercial fishing

Introduction
History of commercial fishing
Fishery equipment and facilities
- Gear
  - Hand tools
  - Lines
  - Traps
  - Nets
    - Bag nets
    - Dragged nets
    - Seines
    - Drive-in and lift nets
    - Gill and entangling nets
  - Machines
- Vessels
  - Trawlers
    - Side trawlers
    - Stern trawlers
    - Beam or outrigger trawlers
    - Wet-fish trawlers
    - Freezer trawlers
    - Factory or processing trawlers
  - Seiners
    - Purse seiners
    - Seine-netters
  - Dredgers
  - Lift-netters
  - Gill-netters
  - Potters
  - Liners
    - Handliners
    - Longliners
    - Pole-and-line vessels
    - Trollers
  - Multipurpose fishing boats
  - Artisanal fishing boats
  - Mother ships
  - Support and ancillary vessels
  - Freshwater fishing boats
- Harbours and port markets
Types of fishery
- Salt water
  - The oceans
  - Objects of sea fishery
    - Fishes
    - Shellfish
    - Mammals
    - Seaweeds and plankton
  - Fish finding
  - Sea-fishing methods
    - Pole-and-line fishing
    - Drifting longlines
    - Bottom longlines
    - Traps
    - Dragged gear
    - Seine nets
    - Purse seines and lamparas
    - Lift nets
    - Gill nets and drift nets
    - Entangling nets
    - Harvesting machines
- Fresh water
  - General characteristics
  - Methods

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

A worker in dark clothing inspects large frozen tuna lined up on the floor at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Japan, using a tool to check the fish.

sturgeon fishing

Fishermen in yellow rain gear working on a boat to haul in anchovies as seagulls fly around them.

lobster fishing, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada

A bigeye thresher shark (Alopias superciliosus) with its mouth open is hooked on a fishing longline, partially out of the water next to a boat in the ocean.

Overfishing: A threat to the oceans and marine life

Illustration of a haddock fish, Melanogrammus aeglefinus, showing its elongated body, dark upper coloring, lighter underside, and prominent fins.

Illustration of a halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), a large flatfish with both eyes on one side of its brown, oval-shaped body and a broad tail fin.

Illustration of a jack mackerel fish, Trachurus symmetricus, showing its elongated body, pointed head, large eye, and two dorsal fins with a dark upper body and silvery underside.

Illustration of an Atlantic bonito (Sarda sarda), showing a streamlined fish with a pointed snout, silver body, and dark horizontal stripes along its back.

At a Glance

sturgeon fishing

fishing industry summary

Related Questions

A worker in dark clothing inspects large frozen tuna lined up on the floor at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, Japan, using a tool to check the fish. — Tsukiji fish market Worker in the Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo.

commercial fishing

agriculture

Also known as: fishing industry

Written by

Philip F. PurringtonAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

commercial fishing, the taking of fish and other seafood and resources from oceans, rivers, and lakes for the purpose of marketing them. In the early 21st century about 250 million people were directly employed by the commercial fishing industry, and an estimated one billion people depended on fish as their primary source of animal protein. Fishing is one of the oldest employments of humankind. Ancient heaps of discarded mollusk shells, some from prehistoric times, have...

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