U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Photos
The ugly-looking but delicious-tasting sturgeon was the fish that principally engaged the attention of the first colonists. They were impressed by its abundance and were busy for a time in shipping its roe to England for [ 1]caviar.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Photos
[ 1 ] (we cannot be certain that much actual caviar was produced at Jamestown. The chances are that the roe was merely salted down and that the final processing took place in England)
Haul-seining or dragging fish ashore by enclosing them in a long net, is a form of fishing that has thrived almost unchanged through the ages. Its practice at Jamestown was limited by the lack of nets.
The toothsome Chesapeake Bay hard crab was, and is still to a great extent today, taken by baits spaced along lines sunk to the bottom and then raised and the tenacious crabs removed.