Fishing a fun and filling pastime in Broad Channel

Image source: Wikimedia commons

NY1 reported that Queens residents have been gathering all summer along the Joseph P. Addabbo Bridge in Broad Channel (GMAP) to catch fish like flounder, snapper, and blue claw crab.It is quite remarkable is that the NY State Department of Health says the fish around Jamaica Bay are clean enough to eat, in stark contrast to other NYC waterways, like the Hudson River estuary, Upper Bay of New York Harbor (north of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge), and the East River to the Throgs Neck Bridge. A license isn’t required to fish here, but fishing is subject to statewide angling rules. According to NY1, Rockaway residents report a sense of “calmness, community, and camaraderie” among the fishers.

The NY Daily News also reported that a Queens resident made a big catch in Brooklyn last Wednesday, angling a 30-pound baby loggerhead sea turtle at Canarsie Pier. Turtles even caused a delay at JFK last year, after 78 diamondback terrapins, who breed in the brackish waters in and around Jamaica Bay, made their way onto a runway.

Queens Residents Hooked On Jamaica Bay Fishing [NY1]
Catch of the day! Brooklyn fisherman hooks 30-pound loggerhead turtle off Canarsie Pier [NY Daily News]
Delays at J.F.K.? This Time, Blame Turtles [NY Times City Room Blog]