A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish.
Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers. The term can also be applied to recreational fishermen and may be used to describe both men and women. Fishing has existed as a means of obtaining food since the Mesolithic period.
Fishing has existed as a means of obtaining food since the Mesolithic period. By the time of the Ancient Egyptians, fishermen provided the majority of food for Egyptians. Fishing had become a major means of survival as well as a business venture.http://www.icsf.net/icsf2006/uploads/publications/samudra/pdf/english/issue_28/art01.pdf Fisheries history Fishing and the fisherman had also influenced Ancient Egyptian religion; mullets were worshiped as a sign of the arriving flood season. Bastet was often manifested in the form of a catfish. In ancient Egyptian literature, the method that Amun used to create the world is associated with the tilapia's method of mouth-brooding.
According to the FAO, there were 38 million commercial and subsistence fishermen and fish farmers in 2002, more than triple the number in 1970. Of this total, 74% worked in capture fisheries and 26% in aquaculture. The total fishery production of 133 million tonnes equated to an average productivity of 3.5 tonnes per person.
Most of this growth took place in Asian countries, where four-fifths of world fishers and fish farmers dwell.
