iStockphoto / OVasik
Audio By Carbonatix
The internet has a pretty weak short-term memory. There are certain things that go viral overnight and are forgotten within months.
The ‘Salmon Cannon’ has actually been around for several years. It was even featured on John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight four years ago. But it’s going viral again so I wanted to share it with you gentlemen who missed it last time around.
The logic behind this is that it ‘shoots’ a salmon upriver as a safe way to transport fish without wasting any water. It’s a way to circumvent hydroelectric dams so fish that have been historically spawning up a river can continue to do so after a dam is constructed.
In practice, this thing looks like the tubes at a bank’s drive-thru that shoots your deposit from your car to the teller. Or the old school way that mail used to be transported throughout enormous office buildings.
The Salmon Cannon appears to have gone viral again after this tweet calling out the ‘Whooshh Fish Transport System’ picked up a lot of traction over the weekend.
This is the Whooshh Fish Transport System. It moves fish through a flexible, pressurized tube, safely transporting them from one area to another. This solves a major problem for migratory fish like salmon. #worldofengineering #engineering #nature #fish
Credit to @JustWhooshh pic.twitter.com/9Xde0kSBjl— World of Engineering (@engineers_feed) June 8, 2019
https://twitter.com/kashthefuturist/status/1159610222148669440
The reactions to this clip are pretty spot on. This guy Tyler sums it up well with ‘imagine if you were a fish and this shit happened to you.’
This person imagines a world where someone tried to pitch this product:
[me appearing on Shark Tank with my million dollar idea]
Salmon waterslide cannon https://t.co/XFxHauHffY
— Josh Butler (@JoshButler) August 11, 2019
https://twitter.com/AlpineGrok/status/1160395455118790656
https://twitter.com/Randall1921/status/1159682598198632448
https://twitter.com/jiaf17/status/1160396591980634112
Imagine a fish that doesnt go through that listening to the story of the fishes that Do. They probably think those fish are fucking insane 😂 pic.twitter.com/gfqMk6gggO
— Kayla 🌿 [Follow new acct] (@Slimealien10) August 11, 2019
The 2019 Salmon Cannon season is apparently over already. It’s run by Whooshh Innovations:
#HydroVision 2019 is in the books. Thanks to all who visited our booth and learned how fish passage can be accomplished easily and more effectively. Save fish, save water, save money, save time— Just Whooshh! #fishpassage #hydropower #cleantech pic.twitter.com/VyzxGoFR5g
— Whooshh Innovations (@JustWhooshh) July 26, 2019
Whooshh recognized by Brookfield Renewable CEO Mitch Davidson as a shining example of innovation in the industry at @HydroVisionIntl's CEO Roundtable today. Stop by Booth 9050 to learn why, or visit https://t.co/LNqZPpcSSH. #fishpassage #hydropower #cleantech #HydroVision pic.twitter.com/ozf9JDccSn
— Whooshh Innovations (@JustWhooshh) July 25, 2019
Going back to this years-old John Oliver clip, it’s just impossible for me to watch this without cracking up. The fact that someone invented a cannon that shoots salmon upstream without harming the animal and then we all just went back to regular life like it’s no big deal is just amazing.
But seriously, why aren’t we building this in human-size already? I want to be able to travel across a resort like The Atlantis in something like this. A Lazy River simply isn’t enough for me anymore now that I know we possess the technology to travel at high-speeds in the water without the use of a boat.