Freshwater channel, southwestern Netherlands.
A distributary of the Hollandsch Canal, the Haring flows about 20 mi (32 km) to discharge into the North Sea. Its low shores were devastated by tidal surge floods in 1953. As part of a plan for land reclamation and flood protection, a dam was completed at its mouth in 1971; it incorporates a lock that allows the channel to remain open to shipping.