Amsterdam also has lots of canals 165, with a combined length of 100 kilometers.
Unavoidably, some of the bicycles end up getting wet.
Did I say some?
Thats how many bicycles are retrieved from Amsterdams canals every year.
In fact, fishing for bicycles is a full-time occupation for the city.
The claw is connected to a crane that sits on the front of a barge.
The company has been bike fishing since the 1960s, and they do this every day.
In the old days, the canals used to be an open sewer.
In 1860, Amsterdam started to see the problem and began cleaning up the canals.
Its believed that most bicycles fished out from the canals are either stolen or victims of vandalism.
Most of the bikes dredged up from the canals end up as scrap metal.
Though bikes arent the only thing that gets caught in the huge metal claws.
Occasionally workers would bring up other items, such as fridges and even cars.
Between 35 to 50 cars fall into the canals each year.
In most cases they are the result of an accident, but sometimes vandalism comes into play.
Bike fishing has become one of Amsterdams unique tourist attraction.
Photo credit: Pien Huang/PRI
Photo credit:omyamsterdamtours.com
A car pushed into a boat.
Photo credit: www.dutchamsterdam.nl
Sources:DutchAmsterdam/Public Radio International
