After the canal was put into operation , fishermen discovered that the new harbor mouth with both piers offered a safe berth. There was a lively fish trade with more and more fishing boats and traders, which hindered shipping traffic. In 1896, therefore, IJmuiden got its own fishing port and two years later the Rijksvisafslag was opened. Earlier, in 1883, a branch of the railway line from Haarlem to Uitgeest, which was built in 1867, had been realized for fishing beyond Santpoort-Noord. In 1983 this so-called ‘fishing line’ was discontinued. In 1914 the IJmuiden fishing fleet consisted of 155 trawlers, one third of the total Dutch fishing fleet. During the First World War, a large part of the fleet was lost as a result of the submarine war that the Germans had announced. The Second World War caused enormous damage to IJmuiden. Most of the trawlers were requisitioned by the Germans and large parts of IJmuiden and Wijk aan Zee were demolished to make room for the bunkers of the Atlantic Wall, which was supposed to stop an invasion by the Allies. After the liberation the fisheries did not succeed in recovering, but fortunately enough other forms of employment had been created.