• Fish was an important food source for coastal Native American tribes.dry salmon image by MAXFX from Fotolia.com
  
  Native Americans developed tools in relation to their needs, reflecting the necessity of certain tasks and materials available. Coastal tribes relied heavily on the ocean to sustain them and developed an array of fishing tools to procure food. Although many similar technologies developed along the same lines, distinct regional variations exist in each coastal Native American culture.
  
  

Fish Hooks

• Fish hooks are the most basic tool of coastal fishing cultures. The Chumash people of central California created effective single-curved shell fish hooks beginning around 4,500 BC. Typically made from abalone shell, Chumash fish hooks were skillfully crafted using stone drills and files. Beginning around the year 900, the Chumash started using compound fish hooks made from two single hooks strung together with plant fiber and asphaltum, a natural tar. The Tlingit people of the Pacific Northwest created hooks similar to those of the Chumash in addition to several variations meant for catching halibut. Halibut are known for their large mouths that make hooking them a challenge. The Tlingit developed a modified hook with an acute inner angle and exaggerated barb on the back to effectively snag halibut. Often carved with intricate designs, Tlingit hooks are frequently found in burial sites as offerings.
  
  

Nets

• Nets were vital tools for coastal people, allowing the taking of large quantities of fish. Although common throughout all coastal Indian cultures, the tribes of the Pacific Northwest succeeded in inventing a wide variety of nets intended for many specific types of fishing. Made from materials such as stinging nettle and cedar fiber, nets were woven and braided into exceptionally strong, long-lasting tools. Among the Salish people of northern California, nettle fiber nets were stretched across a bent willow frame. These nets were useful in skimming large quantities of small fish from coastal reefs and tidepools. Variations of floating gill nets were used primarily during the yearly salmon spawn by tribes throughout the Pacific Northwest. Long and narrow, gill nets were attached to driftwood flotation devices and strung across the mouths of rivers to take in large numbers of spawning salmon. The Sitka tribe of southern Alaska used these floating gill nets with great success, even modifying them with the addition of hooks for use throughout the rest of the year.
  
  

Harpoons

• There were few more useful tools in the arsenal of coastal cultures than the harpoon. Harpoons are a combination of spear and traditional hook-and-line fishing techniques used by cultures throughout the Pacific Northwest and California. Double-headed harpoons were most common in coastal areas, where they were used to catch fish, seals and sea lions. The Yurok people of northern California used two-pronged harpoons with toggle-heads that detached from the main shaft after being thrust into an animal. The sharpened toggle-heads were carved from deer bone with several backward-facing barbs, effectively disabling the animal once embedded in the deep muscle and bone. The Seminole people of southern Florida employed a simple, effective harpoon to hunt fish and turtles. It was a single-pronged variety made from hardened green wood embellished with sharp barbs along the end. When thrust into an animal, the end would detach from the handle with a long leather or iris-fiber line held by the fisherman. Once the fish was tired from struggling against the line, the Seminole fisherman would pull it into a net and stun it with a club.