One company is using fish cannons to safely get migrating fish through man-made obstacles. Salmon are curious creatures going from the saltwater ocean to travel hundreds of miles up freshwater rivers and streams to return to where they were born to spawn. Along the way, the salmon navigate through some serious obstacles with head-scratching amazement, but occasionally run into dams and other obstacles they can’t get around or over and that is where the Whooshh Innovations fish cannon can help.
Originally designed for fruit, Whooshh turned its technology into a tool to help safely send fish over dams blocking the course on the Columbia river in Washington state. Under tests right now with the Department of Energy and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Whooshh tubes could be shooting more fish over dams in the near future. A test this past summer showed that fish will voluntarily enter the tube. When they swim into the entrance, the vacuum sucks them in and gives them initial boost; after that, elevated pressure behind the fish keeps them moving at about 15 to 22 miles per hour till they go flying out the other end.
So far Whooshh has tested tubes going 100 vertical feet, but they could go far higher reaching as far as 500 feet.
[via the Verge]
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