Steel "doors" hung on the stern of a trawler in Santa Barbara, CA.

The distinctive Gulf of Mexico shrimp trawler prepares to lower its twin side-trawls off the Alabama coast.

Bob Spaeth of Madeira Beach, Florida, owns and operates several longliners that fish for both sharks and reef fish in the Gulf of Mexico.

A shrimp trawl net is readied for a trip out of Biloxi, Mississippi.

A netmaker puts the finishing touches on a shrimp net equipped with devices to reduce bycatch and exclude sea turtles.

A small Corpus Christi wing-netter prepares for shrimping in shallow Texas waters.

A South Carolina woman checks her bait in a simple lift net designed for taking blue crabs.

A net-caught salmon, one of many which in the days's haul, which helps support a Tupik fishing family. Alaska, Bristol Bay.

Like small-scale operations everywhere, Bristol Bay crews tend to consist of family and close friends.

Crew paying out the net as other salmon fishermen arrive on the scene.

Tupik native Americans put their modern vessel to sea in the chase for Alaskan salmon. Bristol Bay, AK.

Inside the pilot house, the skipper relies on modern communication and navigation equipment.

Clear monofilament netting is popular for gillnets, but tangles easily around the corks as well as fish.

A crewman removes a salmon caught in the mesh of a gillnet. Bristol Bay, AK.

A night-fishing bait boat is equipped with strong lights to attract squid and anchovies. Ventura, CA.

A skilled cast netter aims for a school of mullet off a southeastern causeway.

Dockside shops carry a wealth of modern rods to catch every target species under every condition.

abundance of mail-order gear catalogs has helped build the giant recreational fishing industry.

A youthful angling enthusiast checks out the action on her spinning reel. Point Pleasant, NJ.

Sand dunes along the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Mangroves in the Florida Keys provide habitat for many species of fish and shellfish.

Derelict fishing boat left at the pier to rot. South Carolina, Folly Beach.

A view of the harbor at Port Isabel, Texas. Cactus and shrimp boats, an incongruous combination.

This productive marsh, in Moss Point, Mississippi, is only one of thousands on the Gulf Coast.

Many Atlantic fisheries resources depend on salt marshes, like this one in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Bays and sounds around Nags Head, North Carolina, provide nurseries for hundreds of marine species.

The deep water Mona Passage off Puerto Rico's western end favors fish larger than those found among shallow-water corals.

St. Thomas's Hull Bay shelters small boats, but local overfishing has meant the need to fish farther out.

Mangrove strut roots and rooted seedlings provide new habitat for young snook, snapper, and other important species.

An environmental scientist works to reduce seafood-borne illness that could cripple coastal economies.

Joe LaPlace mending a net at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Depiction of Virginia's fish bounty encouraged British emigration to the new new land. Library of Congress, illustration by John White in A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, by Thomas Harriot, 1590.

Still a common food fish, herring are also salted for lobster bait here at Pt. Judith, Rhode Island.

Colonists were lured to America by both the abundance and the variety of fish and shellfish. Library of Congress, illustration by John White in A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, by Thomas Harriot, 1590.

Mending nets usually falls to the same people who set them, like this Pt. Pleasant, N.J., fisherman.

Increased consumer demand may be having an impact on the stocks of Atlantic dolphin fish (mahi mahi).

The ready availability of some local seafood makes it hard for consumers to believe accounts of overfishing.

Gloucester, Massachusetts, has a long history of whaling, fishing, and shipping.

This Freeport, Long Island, summer flounder boat is part of the Northeast groundfish fleet.

Buyboats, such as this one in front of the lighthouse, transported fish, crab, and oyster up and down the Chesapeake Bay in the first half of the Twentieth Century. Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, St. Michaels, MD

Anglers embark on a half-day trip from Belmar, New Jersey, in pursuit of summer flounder.

Skates taken as trawl bycatch serve as bait for Pt. Judith, Rhode Island, lobster boats.

Skilled mechanics and engineers, such as this Seaford, Virginia, crewman, have more job options when the fishing is poor.

Once seriously overfished, the rebuilt Atlantic herring resource today offers new opportunities to fishermen.

Miami anglers sort their catch of king and Spanish mackerel after a half day on a head boat.

Pride-of-catch status goes to Puerto Rican dolphin fish for their beauty, fighting ability, and great eating.

Ted Esposito, an Islamorada, Florida, Charter boat captain.

A charter boat crewman cleans tuna and dolphin on a dock in Manteo, North Carolina.

Air freight containers are crucial to Puerto Rican fisheries that send and other premium fish to the east coast.

Albacore from around the world are unloaded from a freighter at a large tuna cannery in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.