Occupation Types
Description
Fish good for eating mentioned by Van der Donck include sturgeon, carp, bass, pike, trout, flounder, perch, and sunfish, among others. Also haddock, herring, mackerel, ray, flounder, and plaice, and lobster, crab, conch, oysters, mussels, and shrimp—a partial listing. Fish and crustaceans were so plentiful that an attempt at a fishing industry did not take hold during the period of the colony’s existence. The inhabitants fished for what they wanted when they wanted it, or purchased excess from their neighbors.
Adriaen van der Donck, A Description of New Netherland, ed. Charles T. Gehring and William A. Starna (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2008), p. 58.