Many Amsterdammers have seen them in action: the bicycle fishermen of Waternet. Thanks to them, the canals of the city are a lot safer and cleaner. Thousands of bicycles end up in Amsterdam’s waters every year, so the grab is filled almost every time it surfaces.
The duo behind this operation? Tido Anema and Raymond Muller. Together they take care of a new piece of canal every day. The Herengracht is their hunting ground this time. “On sonar I check whether I see irregularities on the bottom”, Anema explains the working method. “If I see an irregularity I give him a signal. He goes down with that, then he squeezes. Sometimes we are lucky, sometimes not. It’s like the fair.”
Raymond controls the crane in front of the boat and enjoys his work. “Every bite is a surprise really,” he says. “Now Tido can see what’s on the screen, but in principle every bite is exciting.” But that it often hits, that’s a certainty.
Gold
He pulls up all shapes and sizes. Extremely expensive electric bicycles, countless Swap bicycles, but also scooters. How do they get there? “We have a great chance at the bicycle racks themselves there,” explains skipper Tido Anema. “Then there are people who arrive, they cannot park their bicycle and one is loose, then they throw it in. Or rowdy youth who see a loose bicycle and think let’s throw it in the water.”
A dizzying number of bicycles are pulled up each year. “You can have such a container full every day”. said Muller, pointing to the barge where he dumps the bikes. “10 to 15,000 bicycles per year come out, but I haven’t found that pot of gold yet. That would be the best.”