On a windless December evening, sunset faded to shimmering violet over Jamaica Bay. Icy Atlantic waters pushed past Canarsie Pier, filling the bay for the second time that day. Now, two hours from high tide and almost dark, overhead lamps cast shadows deep into Brooklyn’s watery depths. It takes a great leap of faith to believe anything survives in the frigid dark below, but thousands of Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) are hidden there.
H. Gervais & R. Boulart Herring are wonderful eating, and myriad recipes exist for preparing them.Herring are a reminder of New York Harbor’s abundance. Biologically and commercially speaking, the herring family includes some of the most significant fish on earth. At home on both North American and European shorelines, the Atlantic herring, or sea herring, has been harvested by humans for centuries. It is a critical link in the food chain, connecting tiny plankton to predators bearing every sort of tooth, fin, spine, tentacle, fang or feather. Seals, larger fish, sea birds, whales and humans all feed upon these fish. Though bony, herring are wonderful eating, and myriad recipes exist for preparing them.
Herring are cold-water fish, and their runs into New York City’s shallower bays and shorelines coincide with the onset of winter and lower water temperatures along the coast. This allows their schools to move freely in pursuit of prey.
The easiest way to see a herring is to catch one, and fortunately, with the right equipment, this is not difficult. One can fish for herring effectively during the day, but the best fishing often occurs after dark, as plankton are attracted to the pier lights and the herring follow. The greatest challenge is leaving a warm home after dinner to stand at the end of a cold, wind-swept pier, grasping a fishing rod. You will not be alone in the endeavor; herring fishing is a winter institution for many New Yorkers. When the herring are running, fishermen from Jamaica, Russia, China and Eastern Europe line the piers, united under the banner of the five boroughs.
Using a lightweight spin-fishing pole, a small fishing weight and a rig composed of six or seven tiny hooks dressed with glittery feathers, a hopeful fisher drops the whole rig down to the bay’s bottom and jigs it up and down only slightly. Passing herring take the bait.
Atlantic herring are quite beautiful. They are streamlined, torpedo shape and about a foot long. Their silvery green scales glisten with purple flecks when wet and are easily dislodged if touched. The fish’s large eyes are precision tools for hunting tiny prey in the murky deep, but they give the fish a wistful appearance on shore â€" for some, enough to reconsider the fishing.
A visit to Canarsie Pier or the wooden crosswalk over Sheepshead Bay (both in Brooklyn), or the Cross Bay Bridge in Queens, is often enough for a close look at the fish, as dozens of fishermen sometimes haul as many as five at a time over the railings. If your timing is right, and your luck is good, you should have no trouble seeing a herring on your visit. If your timing is off, you may see only herring scales, dislodged the night before, now frozen to the walkways.
