I can remember when swimming in the Hudson River off NYC was risking your life.
But things are improving (including a very successful oyster reintroduction aided heavily by NYC high school kids
And this big boy recently caught:
Attachment 40286
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I have never swam in the Hudson but as I kid we would often haul fruit into the NYC docks and I would always look at the water---not with an agenda simply as something to do while we waited to unload. I still remember the appearance---with almost a full cover of flotsam of every kind.
We commonly went to the Cunard Line at Pier 54----the home of the "Queens" and I would marvel at their size. The USS United States and other ships belonging to the United States Lines were at Pier 86. To a farm kid they were marvels!
I believe the fruit that we took to those piers was not for export but for food service on those lines. Export shipments went mostly to United Fruit Lines at Pier 6 and 7. It was always a long day if we started to unload in the Produce Market then went to the piers and had to go to multiple piers--we didn't get home until afternoon---18 hours after leaving. The produce market was open at night---the Piers only in the day time.