Fish ladder alternative: the salmon cannon

It is a promotional pitch for the method. It will be interesting to see what fish biologists have to say about it. "Fast and gentle" they claim.
 
Agreed. "Legitimate science" is an overstatement but with "salmon cannon" in the title I though people might just ignore it as a home video stunt :)

Along the same lines, looks like the predicted record fall Chinook run on the Columbia has started. 67024 over the dam yesterday. Fish cam here: http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/Missions/Environment/Fish/Cameras.aspx
 
williwaw":uqe3ch5o said:
Agreed. "Legitimate science" is an overstatement but with "salmon cannon" in the title I though people might just ignore it as a home video stunt :)

Along the same lines, looks like the predicted record fall Chinook run on the Columbia has started. 67024 over the dam yesterday. Fish cam here: http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/Missions/Environment/Fish/Cameras.aspx
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I'm trying to catch as many of those as I can out of Westport prior to them getting to the CR!
 
In the case of fish ladders, the fish that succeed transit the ladder by themselves.

From the video it seems fairly labor intensive having to stuff all the fish into the tube. In one scene of the video it appears that that the fish have been cleaned and packed in ice before launching, so you have to add in the labor to do that as well.

For the run and dump alternative, finding more (ahem) fit runners might improve the throughput. You could even market the activity as a fitness regimen. You get the aerobic workout of running back and forth along with the upper body workout of carrying and throwing a big weight around. In addition, you get the satisfaction of contributing to the success of the salmon migration instead of merely swinging some hunk of metal around in some gym someplace. You might even be able to people to pay for the privilege of doing so.
 
In my misspent younger years I worked raising salmon for 10 years.
Not so sure it's so great for fish but might be one hell of a way to get kids to school without all the buses. Just aim and launch.
 
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