Like a fish in water: clean canals attract more and more edible species

That was unthinkable a few decades ago. “It depends on how far you go back in time, but if you had looked back sixty for seventy years, no fish would have swam in the city canals of the Netherlands at all,” says the biologist, who is also known from VisTV. “The water was then so dirty that it was actually biologically dead: black, smelly water. Nothing could live in it.”

The water quality of the city canals has improved through all kinds of nature-friendly projects. “And that ultimately results in very good fish stocks. There are of course always problems with all kinds of substances that don’t belong in it, but the water is now so clean that most fish species that we find naturally in the Netherlands can simply enter the canal to live.” Nowadays you can certainly find about 75 species of fish in the canals, says Kraal.

Streetfisher Joep Mafait from Nederhorst den Berg has also noticed that the canals are getting cleaner. He travels especially to large cities in North Holland, among others, to fish. “I think the nice thing about fishing in the city is that you have a lot of diversity. In other waters – in nature for example – you fish very specifically for one species. And in the city you fish with small baits and there you can find all kinds of different catching fish. You never know what you’ll catch, so it’s always a mystery.” Common fish species in the canals in Amsterdam are pike, perch, zander, carp, eel, white fish, flounder and sometimes even a stray salmon. “In the Prinsengracht, for example, you can catch good white fish.”

In addition, Mafait sees an expansion in the type of fish you can catch in the canal, because the canals have become cleaner. “The pike, for example, is a fish that is mainly found in clear water and you hardly ever caught it in Amsterdam in the past and now you notice that you catch it more and more often. This is partly because the canals are getting cleaner.”

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Mafait sometimes catches dozens of fish in a day, together with friends. “We once fished fifteen zander per person from the Amstel in one day. Everyone stood around us and wondered: is that really swimming here? That was funny.”

Kraal has been fond of fishing all his life. “I think fish, I’m fish, I don’t want to say I smell like fish… but fish really is my passion. I find it a very fascinating animal, ever since I was four years old. For me it’s a way to connect and participate in nature. It gives me a primal feeling.”

In addition, Kraal loves to catch and eat fish. “Fish are beautiful animals, very different from us and very cool to study and eat. I also like to eat my own fish. A small glass of wine, that is really something special for me. In short: I think the fish is the most beautiful animal that swims on the earth,” says Kraal.