Ring a Doorbell & Save a Fish

If you asked me this morning what I would be doing with my day, I probably wouldn't have been able to guess the truth. In fact, I most definitely wouldn't have guessed that I would be watching a live stream so I can ring a doorbell for a fish....

Yes, you heard that correctly.

Today I learned about a small project called the “Visdeurbel” (fish doorbell), a fascinating solution to a prevalent ecological problem that relies on volunteers around the world (including you!)

So let's talk about it.

Why is a Fish Doorbell Necessary?

In the world of today, we've seen many ecological ramifications of human expansion - and this extends to the migratory patterns of aquatic animals. As technology has grown, humans have developed many ways to control and manipulate the flow of water, from creating man-made bodies of water, to changing or stopping the flow altogether. But when we alter the flow of water by building structures such as dams, canals, or locks - we end up harming the migratory patterns of fish.

So why do we need to care about fish migratory patterns?

Fish play an important part of our ecosystems. They eat aquatic insects and help maintain good water quality. They provide a food source to other animals, including humans. When fish can't reach their habitat, they can't reproduce and maintain their population. And this ends up effecting everyone.

So scientists have brainstormed many solutions for fixing this man-made problem, and these solutions have ranged from the practical to the bizarre.

Need I point to the "Salmon Cannon" as an example?

And this brings us to a (gentler) approach to allowing fish passage to their breeding grounds: the fish doorbell.

So What is the Fish Doorbell?

The Visdeurbel is a project by a city in the Netherlands, by the name of Utrecht, where fish swim every spring from the Vecht to the Kromme river. This is part of an annual fish migration to move from deeper waters (where they are safe from ice) to shallow waters (where they can lay their eggs). There are many fish who follow this pattern, as you can see below:

However, interrupting these fish in their migration is the Weerdluis (Weerd Lock) - and that's where the Visdeurbel comes in. The city of Utrecht has set up an underwater camera in the Weerdluis. This camera live streams to the Visdeurbel website, where onlookers can watch to see if fish have appeared at the lock. If some fish appear, the onlookers can click the big red "doorbell" on the website, to let the lock keeper know that some fish are waiting to pass through the lock! This prevents fish from getting "stuck" for long periods of time, and allows them to continue along their migration.

What can we learn from the Fish Doorbell?

What makes the Visdeurbel an interesting solution is that it relies on volunteers who are sitting at home - perhaps even halfway across the globe. It's clever, educational, and an easy way for anyone to get involved in ecological efforts.

Human impact goes beyond fish migratory patterns, there are many battles in the fight to protect our planet and her species. Some of these battles are very big, and yet, some of these battles are very small. Both are important. We need wide sweeping policy changes, but we also need someone to ring a doorbell for a fish.

Want to ring the fish doorbell?

If you feel inspired to help a fish, you can find the fish doorbell below (Don't panic, Google will help you translate the page from Dutch to English):

Thank you for reading! Now go save some fish.