TO HELP SALMON GET PAST DAMS, FOLKS HAD TO INVENT A SALMON CANNON
Dams are neat and kind of amazing works of engineering. If you’ve ever been to the Hoover Dam, you already get it. Dams create new bodies of water, generate electricity, and offer control of water in the way of sluices which can offer a trickle or a spectacular deluge. But dams are literal walls for water that end up being literal walls for wildlife, like salmon. And salmon, you probably already know, need to travel up rivers to spawn the next generation of possibly delectable sushi. But salmon can’t walk, or fly. So how do they cross a dam? Well, they fly, actually. But with the help of a salmon cannon!
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FLYING OVER A DAM IN A TUBE WORKS, BUT THE IDEA HAS EVOLVED TO BE EVEN BETTER
To be fair, it’s not really a salmon “cannon,” it’s more like a launching tube that does just that: launch salmon into the air from one side of a dam to the other. It’s formal name as a device is “passage portal,” according to its manufacturer Whooshh. And yes, that is kind of the perfect name for a company that produces something as fun as a cannon/tube/portal the kick salmon over dams. But the whole idea gets even cooler than that, considering how the salmon cannon has evolved. Because at first, people had to use their hands to load the salmon into the cannon. But now the fish do almost all the work themselves.
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THE LATEST SALMON CANNON IDENTIFIES ALL FISH, EVEN STOPS INVASIVE SPECIES
Now, the portal leading to the cannon entices the salmon to swim in all by themselves. As salmon instinctively swim upstream, they reflexively swim against any perceived current. So the portal leading to the cannon actually pushes water out in order to get the salmon in. But before any salmon gets launched over a dam by the salmon cannon, several other things happen first. Every fish that goes in is photographed several times in hi-definition. Those pics then identify the species of each, is it native or from a hatchery, if it’s injured, and even if it’s an invasive species. The last don’t get launched anywehere, of course.
But for the salmon who need to move on, the salmon cannon gets them over the dam at least. The rest is up to them, upstream. It’s worth checking out the promotional video.
