Short answers, pulled from the story.
Fishing dates back at least to the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic period about 40,000 years ago. Isotopic analysis of Tianyuan man, a 40,000-year-old modern human from eastern Asia, showed he regularly consumed freshwater fish, and Neanderthals were fishing by about 200,000 BC.
The modern fishing trawler was developed in the 19th century at the English fishing port of Brixham. Its great trawling fleet earned the village the title 'Mother of Deep-Sea Fisheries', and the design triggered a migration of fishers to northern ports such as Grimsby and Hull.
The earliest English essay on recreational fishing, Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, was published in 1496 by Dame Juliana Berners, prioress of the Benedictine Sopwell Nunnery. It covered fishing waters, the construction of rods and lines, and the use of natural baits and artificial flies.
The United Nations FAO estimates the total number of commercial fishers and fish farmers at 39.0 million. Fishing industries and aquaculture provide direct and indirect employment to over 500 million people in developing countries.
Total world capture fisheries production in 2000 was 86 million tons. The top producing countries in order were the People's Republic of China, Peru, Japan, the United States, Chile, Indonesia, Russia, India, Thailand, Norway, and Iceland, with China alone accounting for a third of world production.
Stocks fished within biologically sustainable levels decreased from 90% in 1974 to 62.3% in 2021. Issues affecting long-term sustainability include overfishing, by-catch, marine pollution, ghost fishing, climate change, and fisheries-induced evolution.
Fishing has affected major religions including Christianity, and because the Apostle Peter was a fisherman, the Catholic Church adopted the fisherman's ring into the Pope's traditional vestments. In language it gave rise to terms like a 'fishing expedition' and the internet scam of phishing.