Artisanal Fishing Gears and Sustainable Development

Definitions

Fishing is an ancient activity that remains very similar to practices a long time ago. Some of the devices, gears and fishing methods, are still very similar. The main developments and transformations in fisheries started by the end of the nineteenth century with the introduction of powered engines and new materials, thinner, more resistant, more durable, and often cheaper. However, for the most cases, the development of fishing technology had no, or almost none, relation with the discovery of new gears or fishing methods; the knowledge and the ancient fishermen traditions were only improved.

Fishing activity is understood as the catching or collecting of any living being from the aquatic environment, where it permanently lives including fish, crustaceans, mollusks, mammals, plants, or other aquatic organisms. Artisanal fishing uses the fishing gears and methods that have been traditionally used with some improvements, such as those resulting from the utilization of new...