Fishing

People go fishing to get food, or because they like it. In Japan about 20 million people like fishing!

People fish in rivers, ponds, lakes and in the sea. Some people catch fish in fishing nets on a boat. There are different kinds of nets, and the boats are different sizes, too. Small boats go nearer the shore. They leave in the morning and come back at night. Big ships go to the deep sea and sometimes they do not come back for months. In 1986 some fishermen in a boat from Norway caught more than 120 million fish at the same time in one net! China and Japan catch enormous numbers of fish each year. In 1991 China caught

13. 3 million tonnes of fish. A tonne is 1,000 kilograms.

Some people catch fish with a fishing rod. A fishing rod has a line and a hook on the end. Some people put bread or worms on the hook, but some people put a fly on the hook. The fly is made of feathers!

In 1959 a fisherman from Australia caught a great white shark with a fishing rod. The shark weighed 1,208 kilograms and was 5.

13 metres long.