Getting Food From the Sea

There are many ways to get food from the sea. Some fishermen harpoon big fishes that come to the surface. Shell fishermen use long-handled poles with claws or rakes at the ends to scoop up shellfishes from the bottom of the sea. Each of these methods is thousands of years old.

Fishermen who use harpoons hunt schools of swordfish or giant blue fin tuna. The fisherman must be patient in trying to find a school. But the rewards can be great. A fisherman who harpoons a 2,000 lb. blue fin tuna that can be sold at the dock for even $1.00 a lb. will have a very profitable day. After the blue fin is sold at the dock, it is immediately gutted, cleaned, and put on ice. Most blue fins will then be put in the wooden crates and flown the same evening to Tokyo. The Japanese love to eat the raw, fresh meat of the blue fin tuna. There is a saying in Japan that one giant bluefish tuna is worth the price of a small Japanese car.

Another ancient method of fishing involves gathering up oysters and clams with long poles called tongs. The tongs are fastened together near the bottom end, just above the rakes, or grasping claws. The fisherman opens and closes the bottom raker basket by moving the ends of his poles back and forth, scooping the shellfish into the basket and then lifting them up to the boat.

One way to catch fishes from a boat is to drag a net along the ocean floor to catch fish and shellfishes that live on the bottom. This is called trawling. One large trawl net can be let out behind a boat and dragged along the bottom for several hours before being pulled in. 

To keep the mouth of the sack-like net open, large wooden doors are attached to either side of the net. As water flows against the doors, they spread apart and stretch out the front end of the net. The lower edge of the net rides along the ocean floor, sweeping anything in its path up and back into the net. Everything is washed to the back of the net, called the cod end. The boat pulls the net slowly, at only one or two miles per hour. Faster-swimming fishes can avoid being captured. But many creatures can't swim away fast enough. Bottom trawls bring in most of our codfish, hake, Pollock, flounder, and shrimp.

Fishermen also use nets near the surface of the ocean to catch fishes. Sometimes long, delicate nets are floated down from the surface. Fishes that swim into these nets can become caught by the gill covers on the sides of their heads. For that reason, these nets are called gill nets. Conservationists do not like the use of long gill nets because they not only capture edible fishes, but they also kill fishes we do not eat, as well as mammals such as seals and dolphins.

The purse seine is another net used by many fishermen. This is a long net let out as a boat circles a large school of fishes. After the fishes are surrounded, the net is pulled together, just as you might close a purse. This traps the fishes.

Dangling a fishing pole into a water is the same method whether you are a recreational fisherwoman, or a professional. Far out at sea, hook and line is used to catch fish that may weigh up to 50 lbs or more. Much of the fish we eat is caught this way, even though the deep-sea fishermen's equipment is a little more complicated that a fishing pole.

On a commercial fishing boat, crew members sometimes still stand along the railings of the ship with strong poles in hand. They fish over the side, their heavy lines baited with anchovies or sardines. This is one way that skipjack and albacore tuna are caught. Two strong people may be needed, pulling on two poles attached to a single line, to pull in a tuna weighing 30 - 50 lbs. Salmon are also caught on a hook and line, often as they travel from the sea to breed in freshwater rivers and streams.

Long-line fishing is another hook-and-line method. A very long line, often more than one mile long, is attached to floats called buoys. The buoys keep the line floating on the surface. From this surface line, other lines are tied a few feet apart. These lines hang down in the water and at the end of each one is a hook baited with small fish. Larger fishes that try to eat the bait are caught by the hooks. Swordfishes and many kinds of tuna and sharks are caught this way. A good catch from one of these long lines, which the Japanese have taught the world to use, will bring up thousands of big fishes in a single day.

You may not think of shark as a food fish. Not many North Americans go to the market to buy shark (although mako shark is especially tasty). However shark meat is becoming more popular. So one day, you may enjoy a shark sandwich or a grilled shark steak, just as much as you enjoy a tuna sandwich or grilled salmon!