East River: Difference between revisions

In an earlier time, one person had described the transparency of the water: "I remember the time, gentlemen, when you could go in twelve feet of water and you could see the pebbles on the bottom of this river." As the water got more polluted, it darkened, underwater vegetation (such as [[photosynthesis|photosynthesizing]] [[seagrass]]) began dying, and as the [[seagrass]] beds declined, the many associated species of their ecosystems declined as well, contributing to the decline of the river. Also harmful was the general destruction of the once plentiful [[Oyster|oyster beds]] in the waters around the city,<ref group=notes>Oysters were so plentiful in New Amsterdam and early New York that they were considered to be food for the poor, although the rich also ate them in great numbers. They were sold in specialized "oyster shops" and by vendors on the street, some of which were paved with their shells. Pearl Street was named after the piles of oysters left there by the Native Americans of the area. "Enjoy the oysters" was often said to a person planning on traveling to New York City, so strong was the bivalve as an icon of the city. It was only after the collapse of the local oyster beds, by around 1920, that oysters became scarce, and a delicacy only affordable by the rich.{{parabr}}{{nb5}}Burrows and Wallace, pp.460, 798, 816<br>{{nb5}}Kurlansky, Mark "oysters" in {{cite enc-nyc2}}, pp.963–964<br>{{nb5}}Steinberg, pp.7, 170–71</ref> and the over-fishing of [[menhaden]], or [[Menhaden|mossbunker]], a small silvery fish which had been used since the time of the Native Americans for fertilizing crops – however it took 8,000 of these schooling fish to fertilize a single acre, so mechanized fishing using the [[Seine fishing|purse seine]] was developed, and eventually the menhaden population collapsed. Menhaden feed on phytoplankton, helping to keep them in check, and are also a vital step in the food chain, as [[bluefish]], [[striped bass]] and other fish species which do not eat phytoplankton feed on the menhaden. The oyster is another filter feeder: oysters purify 10 to 100 gallons a day, while each menhaden filters four gallons in a minute, and their schools were immense: one report had a farmer collecting 20 oxcarts worth of menhaden using simple fishing nets deployed from the shore. The combination of more sewage, due to the availability of more potable water – New York's water consumption ''per capita'' was twice that of Europe – indoor plumbing, the destruction of filter feeders, and the collapse of the food chain, damaged the ecosystem of the waters around New York, including the East River, almost beyond repair.<ref>Steinberg, pp.166–73</ref>