‘Fishing’, ‘Fishery’ and ‘Fisheries’ may seem very similar in meaning, that’s why some people erroneously use them interchangeably. Conversely, these three terms originated at different periods in the past and as time went on, terminology and humans evolved, and as a result, they are used differently in societies.
Origin of the Word ‘Fishing’
Fishing is a prehistoric practice dating back at least 40,000 years. The term ‘fishing’ came into use farther before the fifteenth century. Fishing dates far back to the 1300s, when it was spelled ‘fysschynge’. As at 2022, the earliest known book on fishing is a book on fly fishing: ‘A Treatyse on Fyshhynge Wyth An Angle’, by Dame Juliana Berners, published in 1496, and believed to be the first book on fly fishing in the world. Her book preceded Izaak Walton’s book, another early, authoritative fly-fishing book, ‘The Compleat Angler‘, which was published in 1653. Fishing was used by then, to mean ‘the activity of catching fish or shellfish’.
Origin of the Word ‘Fishery’
Fishery came into use as an adjective meaning ‘related to the culture, harvest or sale of fish or shellfish’. ‘Fishery’ latter on got another meaning: ‘occupation, enterprise or business that farms, catches, processes or sells fish or fishery products’ in the 1670s. . It latter on got another meaning, “place where fish are caught,” in the 1690s.
Origin of the Word ‘Fisheries’
The term ‘fisheries’ is believed to have originated alongside fishery as a plural for fishery. However, nowadays, both terms are often used to refer to the same concept. There are however, a few differences which we handled in our article, Differences between fishing fishery and fisheries.
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