For the most part, a fishery is a substance occupied with raising or reaping fish which is dictated by some position to be a fishery. As per the FAO, "...a fishery is a movement prompting gathering of fish. It might include catch of wild fish or raising of fish through aquaculture." It is regularly characterized as far as the "individuals in question, species or kind of fish, territory of water or seabed, technique for angling, class of vessels, reason for the exercises or a blend of the prior highlights". The definition regularly incorporates a mix of fish and fishers in a district, the last angling for comparable species with comparable rigging types. Some administration and private associations, particularly those concentrating on recreational angling remember for their definitions the fishers, yet the fish and living spaces whereupon the fish depend.

Legitimately or in a roundabout way, the business of more than 500 million individuals in creating nations relies upon fisheries and aquaculture. Overfishing, including the taking of fish past manageable levels, is lessening fish stocks and work in numerous world locales. A report by Prince Charles' International Sustainability Unit, the New York-based Environmental Defense Fund and 50in10 distributed in July 2014 assessed worldwide fisheries were adding US$270 billion per year to worldwide GDP, however by full usage of feasible angling, that figure could ascend by as much as US$50 billion. In extra to business and means angling, recreational (sport) angling is famous and financially significant in numerous areas.