Preserving fish by smoking is one of the basic methods recommended to keep fish fresh and hygienic for consumption. Smoked fish is also popular for its richness in protein, especially for younger ones.

In days gone by, fish was dried by the wind, the basic way of preserving it then. With the discovery of fire, however, early humans might have found that fish hung up over fire dried more quickly, and that, if the fire was smoky, the fish would acquire a different flavour and could be kept for a bit longer in a better condition. Cutting (1955) suggests that people might have begun to smoke fish deliberately in the Neolithic period.

As Sue Shephard (2000) points out, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of what was evidently a substantial fish smoking "factory" in Poland, dating back to the seventh century. And it is clear that Europeans’ use of the technique was greatly expanded, perhaps mainly in order to deal with gluts of herring, in the medieval period. Dedicated smoke houses used for this purpose were in common use in England, and no doubt elsewhere in the fourteenth century.

Down here in The Gambia, however, fish smokers encounter certain complexities ranging from the preparation of the oven and marketing of their final product. In fishing centres such as Gunjur, Tanji and Sanyang, progress has been achieved in the form of construction of special ovens.
In analysing the constituents of smoke, which are responsible for the changes in the fish, and the choice of wood shavings to produce the best smoke results, fish smokers in these centres are relatively faced with difficulties.

The hot smoking of fish is also common in virtually all parts of Africa. An example is a primitive kiln made from oil drums in Ghana. Hot smoked fish is succulent and tasty but, in general, does not stay longer, or cannot kept for as longer as cold smoked fish. Cold smoking is not a cooking process, the fish is simply left hanging, exposed to smoke, which may of course leave it slightly warm, but that is irrelevant, and the result is that it is kept well.