Fishing for bicycles in Amsterdam canals

AP Television Amsterdam, Netherlands - March 1st, 2011 1. Close of bicycle handlebars, tracking shot travelling along cycle lane 2. Tilt up bicycles chained to railings to reveal canal 3. Close of bicycle handlebars and rusting lamp 4. Mid of bridge with cyclist passing in front of sun 5. Wide of thousands of bicycles parked outside Central Station, cyclist parks bike 6. Mid of canal dredger hauling bicycles out of the water 7. Various of dredger hauling bicycles out of the water, then onto barge 8. SOUNDBITE: (Dutch) Arie de Beer, coordinator at Waternet, the Amsterdam Water Authority: "Amsterdam is a bicycle city, and a large part of those bicycles end up in the water of the canals. We fish between 12,000 and 15,000 bicycles out of the water yearly. And behind me are some of those bicycles. They will be taken to the scrap yard" 9. Wide of canal dredger hauling bicycles out of the water 10. SOUNDBITE: (Dutch) Arie de Beer, coordinator at Waternet, the Amsterdam Water Authority: "Yes, bicycle fishing is a peculiar story. Every year we fish up between 12,000 and 15,000 bicycles. Yeah, where do they come from? Well - the owners won't throw them into the water so quickly, so we assume that either theft or vandalism is the reason for the bicycles to end up in the water." 11. Wide of dredger barge approaching barge filled with bicycles, attaching chain, dropping in wooden post 12. Wide of canal with barge approaching LEAD IN: Amsterdam's canals are famous the world over. There's not much in the way of fishing in the city waters, except for bicycles. Each year as many as fifteen thousand discarded cycles have to be dredged from the canals. STORYLINE: Bicycles are the favourite way of getting around Amsterdam for locals and tourists alike. The so-called Venice of the North is fiercely pro-cyclist has one of the biggest number of urban bike riders in Europe. Everywhere you go bikes can be seen propping up lamp posts, tied to railings and lining the banks of the canals. Cutting down the use of cars helps dispose of one environmental problem, but the bikes themselves create another. With so many cyclists around, it's no wonder that riders sometimes forget where they left their bike. Outside the city's Central Station the cycle parking area is enormous. Many bikes get lost, stolen or simply forgotten about. But most of the dead bikes end up here - in the canal. Fishing them out is a year-round task for the the city, according to Arie de Beer, coordinator at Waternet, the Amsterdam Water Authority. "Amsterdam is a bicycle city, and a large part of those bicycles end up in the water of the canals. We fish between 12,000 and 15,000 bicycles out of the water yearly. And behind me are some of those bicycles. They will be taken to the scrap yard" All sorts of things emerge from the murky waters, but mostly it's bikes. It's a fishy story says Arie de Beer. "Yes, bicycle fishing is a peculiar story. Every year we fish up between 12,000 and 15,000 bicycles. Yeah, where do they come from? Well - the owners won't throw them into the water so quickly, so we assume that either theft or vandalism is the reason for the bicycles to end up in the water." Amsterdam's watery harvest ends up being turned into scrap metal. This is bicycle recycling, on an industrial scale. wacky You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/cc7d792e143f5bfec66aac79907d4b8f Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork