Otter fishing

Otter fishing has been practiced historically in a number of regions including Central Europe, Northern Africa, the British Isles, Scandinavia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, China and South America.^[2][3]

The earliest records of otter fishing are from the

Otter fishing was known in Europe from as early as the 16th century. The Scandinavians trained otters for catching trout. Olaus Magnus, the Archbishop of Uppsala, published a tome in 1555, De Gentibus Septentrionalibus (On Northern Peoples), which includes a sketch of a fishing otter.^[3] One of the motifs of Magnus's 1539 map of Scandinavia, Carta marina, is an otter fetching a fish for its master, who is ready with a knife and a cooking vessel on the fire.^[4]

Fishing with otters was known in England, Scotland, Germany and Poland. The first mention of otter fishing in the British Isles dates to 1480, while the method for training otters is described in the 1653 book on angling by Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler.^[3] Individual sportsmen in the Americas and Europe have also used otters for sport fishing.^[3] British sportsmen who had served in South India during the early years of the Raj have been known to import this practice to their homes in Europe.^[3]

Otter fishing is also reported from Central and South America.^[3] A Maxacali creation story from Brazil suggests that the practice of otter fishing may have been prevalent in the past.^[5] Fishermen from Guyana used a different tactic – they would observe where an otter deposited its catch and later purloin the fish.^[3]

Method

In the Old World, two otter species have been primarily used in otter fishing – the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra), chiefly in Europe and North Africa, and the smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata), mostly in South Asia and China.^[3] And in the New World, the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis) has been used, usually in South America.^{[citation needed]}

Olaus Magnus wrote that the otter often fetches the catch for its master but "once in awhile forgets and eats the fish".^[4] Izaak Walton's 1653 book describes otter pups, three to four months old, being domesticated and trained. The otters were muzzled to prevent them eating fish and secured by lines to their master. The otters then chased fish in a pond into a net. Another technique was to submerge nets and get the otters to shepherd the fish into them, after which the nets, along with otters and catch, were retrieved.^[3]

In ancient China, the otter wore a leather harness on its body to which an iron chain was attached. The other end of the chain was either secured to the fisherman's boat or to a bamboo pole. The fisherman would cast his circular net, weighted at the edges, and pull it in. As the net was being pulled in, the otter would be introduced into the net through a small opening. The otter's role was to search for and disturb fish hiding in nooks and crannies and force them into the net so that they were trapped. The otter was subsequently rewarded in the case of a good catch.^[2] The practice of using otters to drive fish into nets was prevalent in Asia and is still practiced in southern Bangladesh.^[6]

Bangladesh

Otter fishing is still practiced in

• 
  Otter fishermen with nets, in Bangladesh

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Otter fishing.

• Cormorant fishing

References