Fishing is the activity of catching fish, for consumption or commercial purposes. The term fishing is also broadly applied to the catching of other aquatic animals such as shellfish, squids, octopus, turtles, frogs and some edible marine invertebrates. The catching and hunting of whales are not referred as fishing, but it is known as Whaling. Fishing is one of the biggest water based industries in the world and it is also a recognized professional as well as recreational sport. Fishing is a very ancient practice. It is generally believed that fishing began as early as the Paleolithic period, which began 40,000 years ago. Archeological evidences such as shell middens, fish bones as well as cave paintings have been discovered, which reveal that both fishing and export and import of sea products and fishes were practiced since the early days of civilization. The river Nile was always full of fishes and so one of the primary occupations of the people residing in the adjacent areas, was actually fishing. Even in India, fishing was practiced from ancient times, since there was an abundance of rivers and fishes in India. Fishing is an important occupation of the Indians and still date; there are many communities, whose livelihood depends on the fishing industry. Fishing techniques that are in vogue, include netting, trapping, angling and hand gathering. Hand gathering is one of the oldest techniques of fishing. In this technique, the fish is basically gathered by hand, without the help of any equipment. The only equipment used in this technique is the basket, in which the fishes gathered are stored. Fish trapping is a much newer technique of fishing. In trapping, various types of traps are used to catch the fishes. The traps are generally made up of thick steel wires arranged in the shape of a heart, along with chicken wire stretched around it. Netting is also a much cheaper as well as widely used fishing techniques. In this technique, nets of various sizes and shapes are used to catch the fish. Now-a-days the nets are even attached to mechanized boats and trawlers, so that the fish can be caught from deep waters too. Angling is another fishing technique, used more for recreational purposes than for commercial use. In this technique, angles are used, with a line and a hook, in which live baits are attached. The anglers generally dip the hook along with bait, in the water and wait for the fish to bite on the bait. As soon as the fish bites onto it, it gets stuck into the hook. The then angler pulls the line out of the water, using a lever.