It may be a global practice that accounts for a large percentage of protein consumption in many countries, but fishing is perhaps the least intuitive way to get food — most of the time, you can’t even see what you’re looking for.
Hunting and gathering make sense, dealing as they do with the terrestrial realm in which we landlubbers evolved. We’re all familiar with this part of our heritage: Early humans got by spearing mammoths and foraging wild plants. Yet fishing also has ancient roots, as revealed in recent decades, by archaeological discoveries from around the world.
Did Our Ancestors Fish?
It’s impossible to say precisely when our ancestors began hauling fish out of the water. If they started by snatching prey from the shallows with their bare hands, no tools would remain to prove it. And any leftover food scraps, of course, would have been biodegradable.
