Starting in early March and lasting until May, is known not just as springtime, but also known as fish doorbell season. And while you may be thinking of how a fish can be near a doorbell, let alone press one, it’s a bit different from the initial mental visualization.
In the Netherlands city of Utrecht is a manually operated lock called the Weerdsluis. This lock is used by a number of fish to get from point A to point B as well a place for the fish to spawn and reproduce. During the early spring, the amount of fish increases, but so do the problems. If fish are stuck in the waterway, they risk exhaustion as well as falling prey to birds or larger fish.
When the lock-keeper should unlock the gate for the fish to pass through finally had an interesting solution instead of the typical fish ladder. Dutch ecologist, Mark van Heukelum, came up with this idea. In 2021, a live stream camera was inserted in the lock. But it wasn’t the lock-keeper keeping an eye on the camera; the task was given to the internet. The mission to open the gate became a crowdsourced endeavor. Anyone from around the world could watch the live stream. If a fish approached, then you could click the doorbell. If the doorbell was clicked enough, the lock-keeper would be notified to open the gate. You could even go the extra (easy) step and click which fish you identified in the live stream, giving the people in charge of the fish doorbell more information on the breeding and migration patterns of the fish.
In last year’s session, some 2.7 million people tuned in across the world to help save these fish and help them go on their merry way, with some 40,000 doorbell rings.
You can check out weekly fish updates with Dutch Fish Wall’s YouTube channel. If you want to try out the fish doorbell yourself, you can click the link to the live stream here.