On the extensive Peruvian littoral, fishing appeared much earlier than agricultural knowledge. More than ten thousand years ago, fishing and mollusk gathering were carried out on the beaches and close to the shores of the valleys in the lakes which existed then as a consequence of filtrations of the phreatic layer.

Two ways of fishing prevailed, one from the littoral and the sea shore for obtaining small fish like mackerel and anchovies and the gathering of mollusks. They also made use of the lakes near the coast because then they existed in all the valleys, and they gave lodging to striped mullet (Mugil cephalus). The second type of fishing was centered on fish of a bigger size coming from the high seas. For that they had to have some type of vessel which could be reed rafts, the so-called "little horses of totora" or rafts of trunks of trees or sea lion skins.

On the Peruvian coast organizational systems were based on a scrupulous specialization of labor which was shown in all jobs and tasks. Fishermen did not escape this custom and enjoyed their own beaches, coves and fishing lakes. In addition they fished according to the mita or by turns without participating in the cultivators' work parties. However, in the sociopolitical space of the "señoríos", the groups of fishermen with their ethnic chiefs were subject to the great lords of the macroethnicities.

For each type of fish they used different nets, some made of brown-colored native cotton, some made of cabuya, generally dyed so they would not be detected by the fish. They possessed fish hooks of different shapes and forms and baskets and harpoons.