Fishing

Jennifer

Reading — Advanced Level
Share this exercise
Activity

Read the text and answer the questions

Fishing is an ancient practice that dates back to at least the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic period about 40,000 years ago. Isotopic analysis of the remains of Tianyuan man, a 40,000-year-old modern human from eastern Asia, has shown that he regularly consumed freshwater fish. Archaeology features such as shell middens, discarded fish bones, and cave paintings show that sea foods were important for survival and consumed in significant quantities. Fishing in Africa is evident very early on in human history. Neanderthals were fishing by about 200,000 BC. People could have developed basketry for fish traps, and spinning and early forms of knitting in order to make fishing nets to be able to catch more fish in larger quantities.

During this period, most people lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and were, of necessity, constantly on the move. However, where there are early examples of permanent settlements they are almost always associated with fishing as a major source of food.

There are many fishing techniques and tactics for catching fish. The term can also be applied to methods for catching other aquatic animals such as shellfish, squid, octopus and edible marine invertebrates.

Fishing techniques include hand gathering, spearfishing, netting, angling and trapping. Recreational, commercial and artisanal fishers use different techniques, and also, sometimes, the same techniques. Recreational fishers fish for pleasure, sport, or to provide food for themselves, while commercial fishers fish for profit. Artisanal fishers use traditional, low-tech methods, for survival in third-world countries, and as a cultural heritage in other countries. Usually, recreational fishers use angling methods and commercial fishers use netting methods. A modern development is to fish with the assistance of a drone.

Why a fish bites a baited hook or lure involves several factors related to the sensory physiology, behavior, feeding ecology, and biology of the fish as well as the environment and characteristics of the bait. There is an intricate link between various fishing techniques and knowledge about the fish and their behavior including migration, foraging and habitat.

Source: Wikipedia
  1. Which can be inferred from the first three sentences of the article?
  2. How did people catch a large number of fish in the olden days?
  3. Which is likely considered recreational fishing?
  4. How does commercial fishing differ from recreational fishing?
  5. How does a bait function?
Submit
Discussion

Practice your writing skills by discussing the questions below

  1. Does fishing interest you? if yes, how often do you do it?
  2. What kinds of fish are popular in your country?
  3. Where do people usually go fishing ? Why?
    Jennifer

    Need help?

    Ask a question or reserve a class with Jennifer

    Vocabulary

    Translate

    From English
    To
    No translation
    © bitgab LLC
    Terms Privacy Cookies Advertise Learn English online blog Facebook Twitter