Gillnets

Gillnets is a technology in Age of Empires II: The Forgotten available at the Dock upon reaching the Castle Age. Once researched, it increases the work rate of Fishing Ships by 25%. This work rate bonus applies to both collecting food from fish and Fish Traps, also making Fishing Ships build Fish Traps faster.

Japanese Fishing Ships already work 5%/10%/15%/20% faster in the Dark/Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age, and can research Gillnets. As a result, they have the fastest working Fishing Ships in the game.

Civilization bonuses Edit

• Chinese: Researching Gillnets is 15%/20% cheaper in the Castle/Imperial Age.
• Italians: Researching Gillnets is 50% cheaper.
• Persians: Researching Gillnets is 15%/20% faster in the Castle Age/Imperial Age.

History Edit

Both drift gillnets and setnets have been widely adapted in cultures around the world. The antiquity of gillnet technology is documented by a number of sources from many countries and cultures. Japanese records trace fisheries exploitation, including gillnetting, for over 3,000 years. Many relevant details are available concerning the Edo period (1603–1868). Fisheries in the Shetland Islands, which were settled by Norsemen during the Viking era, share cultural and technological similarities with Norwegian fisheries, including gillnet fisheries for herring. Many of the Norwegian immigrant fishermen who came to fish in the great Columbia River salmon fishery during the second half of the 19th century did so because they had experience in the gillnet fishery for cod in the waters surrounding the Lofoten Islands of northern Norway. Gillnets were used as part of the seasonal round by Swedish fishermen as well. Welsh and English fishermen gillnetted for Atlantic salmon in the rivers of Wales and England in coracles, using hand-made nets, for at least several centuries. These are but a few of the examples of historic gillnet fisheries around the world.