Damns around Yakima are using a new type of fish ladder that shoots salmon down a pipe with water pressure at 20 miles per hour! This new technique causes much less stress on the salmon because traditional fish ladders take days to climb according to sources. Now salmon can cross over a damn in seconds with no physical exertion.

The fish are pushed along by pressurized water and they basically go for a ride inside the tube. The first salmon shotgun was developed in Seattle and first tested by Yakima Nation’s fish biologists at Roza Dam in 2013. After a successful small scale test, they just finished a tree week full scale test with great results. The test showed that the salmon traveled through the tube with no ill effects for adults or their offspring. Eventually they want to create a group of different sized tubes so all fish in the river can use it to travel over damns.

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