The Fish Hook

The 20 Most Important Tools
No. 19: The Fish Hook
David M. Ewalt 08.05.05, 12:00 PM ET




No. 1 The Knife
No. 2 The Abacus
No. 3 The Compass
No. 4: The Pencil
No. 5: The Harness
No. 6: The Scythe
No. 7: The Rifle
No. 8: The Sword
No. 9: Eyeglasses
No. 10: The Saw
No. 11: The Watch
No. 12: The Lathe
No. 13: The Needle
No. 14: The Candle
No. 15: The Scale
No. 16: The Pot
No. 17: The Telescope
No. 18: The Level
No. 19: The Fish Hook
No. 20: The Chisel
How We Figured The Rankings
See the slide show of The 20 Most Important Tools.




New York - Forbes.com readers, editors and a panel of experts rank the fish hook as the 19th most important tool of all time, in terms of its impact on human civilization. ( Read more about how we developed the rankings.)

It's one of the simplest items on our list--just a piece of bent wire, sometimes sporting a barb on the end. But throughout modern human history, the fish hook has proven to be one of our most dependable tools. Fishing allows us to eat, without the danger of hunting or the hard work of farming.

The earliest fish hooks were probably carved out of wood more than 30,000 years ago by Cro-Magnon man. Other cultures throughout history have used animal bone, horns, shells, steel and even the thorns of hawthorn bushes. On Easter Island, fish hooks were fashioned from the thigh bones of deceased fishermen.

In modern times, the hook is becoming less important as commercial fishing ventures rely more and more upon massive nets, although certain industrial fishing techniques--such as longline fishing--still depend on the humble hook.

Other important fishing tools include the harpoon, the net, the lure, the spear.

Corporate Connections: Norway's Mustad and Japan's Gamakatsu are two of the world's biggest hook manufacturers. Modern commercial fishing giants include Trident Seafoods, partly owned by ConAgra (nyse: CAG - news - people ), American Seafoods Group and Pacific Seafood. But truthfully, hardly anyone hooks their own tuna any more. If we're hankering for a tuna melt, we probably satisfy our cravings with canned tuna from companies such as StarKist Foods, a division of Del Monte Foods (nyse: DLM - news - people ).

Slide Show: The 20 Most Important Tools