ABSTRACT
As with all human activities, the patterns found in fisheries show the consequences of distance. Moreover, the fact that the speed of movement of fishing boats, like sea vessels generally, is much less than that of modern vehicles on land entails that the friction of distance is also considerably greater. Features of spatial organisation can be seen in fisheries at all scales from the local to the global. Naturally the local scale dominated in history, but for over 2,000 years it is known that parts of the trade in fish operated over distances which could extend to hundreds, or even thousands, of miles. In the course of time, in general terms a progressively greater part of the activity in fisheries has extended over long distances; and with the acceleration of economic development over the past century and more, spatial organisation has inevitably continued to increase in scope, and various features of activity such as the production of and trade in tuna, salmon and shrimp can now be seen as global.
