Answer: Fishing depends on physical factors (coast, sea, currents, plankton) and economic factors (market, capital, technology).
Physical factors:
- Continental shelf: shallow seas over wide continental shelves (less than 200 m deep) receive sunlight and support plenty of plankton, so fish are abundant, e.g. Grand Banks, Dogger Bank.
- Meeting of warm and cold currents: mixing of currents provides plankton and good conditions for fish, e.g. Gulf Stream and Labrador current near Newfoundland, Kuroshio and Oyashio near Japan.
- Indented coastline: provides natural harbours and safe landing sites for boats.
- Cool climate: helps in preserving fish; temperate waters have commercially valuable fish found in shoals.
- Lack of land resources: rugged relief and poor soils (e.g. Norway, Japan) push people towards fishing.
Economic and other factors:
- Market and demand: large population and demand for fish as food.
- Capital and technology: modern trawlers, refrigeration, processing and storage facilities.
- Transport: quick transport to markets.
- Forests: supply of timber for building boats in earlier times.
- Government policies: support, subsidies and regulation of exclusive economic zones.
