Who can we blame for the nets
- evidence of fishing existed in the paleolithic period 40,000 years
- Cro-Magnons
- Egyptians who´s art and hieroglyphics show that net fishing was practiced in 300BC
- Greeks and Romans who celebrated fishing as important and Oppian ( a Greek poet) wrote an epic poem about fishing around the year 180. In the poem he describe differetn types of net and methods
The Old Testament refers to catching fish with hooks, spears, and several types of nets (Job 18:8; Ecc. 9:12; Isa. 19:8). Several types of nets were used in Jesus´ time. The seine net was probably the oldest. Several hundred feet long and as much as 20 feet high, this net was dropped by fishermen from boats several hundred yards from shore, and parallel to it. Cork or wood floats kept one edge of the net on the water´s surface, while stone sinkers fastened to the other edge pulled it to the bottom. As the fishermen pulled the net ashore, the net trapped any fish in its path. When the fishermen had dragged the net ashore, they sorted the catch, throwing out animals without fins and scales. They cleaned and sold the fish, remembering to give Rome´s share to the tax collector. Jesus used the seine net as an illustration in his description of the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 13:47-48). James and John were probably mending (preparing) seine nets when Jesus called them (Matt. 4:21).
The circular cast net measured up to 25 feet in diameter and was thrown into the water from the shore or a boat. Simon and Andrew were using this type of net when Jesus called them (Mark 1:16-18).
The trammel net was composed of three walls, reinforcing each other with increasingly smaller mesh. Fish passed through the layers until they found themselves caught against the inner wall and eventually became entangled. The net was retrieved and the fish extracted. This net was washed in the morning, as it traditionally was used at night. Sometimes fishermen encircled a shoal of fish with a trammel net and threw a cast net into the center. Fishermen may have jumped into the water to retrieve the cast net and catch the fish trapped in the circle of the larger net. Often more than one boat was used with the trammel net (Luke 5:1-7). The New Testament reference to Peter putting on his clothes before meeting Jesus probably indicated that he had been fishing in this way (John 21:7).
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