"They" are the poachers who haunt those waters, men who catchmore than the legal limit of fish--striped bass, sea bass, fluke and blackfish (tautog)--then sell them on the black market.
The pond is covered by heavy metal grids for security and safety which Susan said would take two or more people to lift and catch the fish which have been known to live up to 50 years.
You have to be canny to catch big fish here there are fewer of them, they see many more anglers and the hatches are generally less dense than they are out west.
This, plus new ice machines that kept the catch cold and the development of railway tracks connecting major cities and ports, made fishmore accessible and affordable than ever before.