A Doorbell Just For Fish Tells Lock Operators in Utrecht to Lift the Gates

Mar 20

Mar 20 A Doorbell Just For Fish Tells Lock Operators in Utrecht to Lift the Gates

Of all the ways to spend time staring at screens, may we suggest the Netherland's visdeurbel? That’s Dutch for “fish doorbell,” a crowd-sourced system to help migrating fish swim through Utrecht’s canals using an underwater camera and a website.

“Every spring, fish swim right through Utrecht, looking for a place to spawn and reproduce,” according to the site. “Some swim all the way to Germany. There is a problem, however: they often have to wait a long time at the Weerdsluis lock on the west side of the inner city, as the lock rarely opens in spring. We have come up with a solution: the fish doorbell!”

The camera transmits to a live feed, where viewers press the digital doorbell when a fish comes into view. The lock operator receives the signal and will open the gate when there are enough fish trying to get by. Pike, pike-perch or zander, ide, and roach fish are beneficiaries of the crowd-sourced system.

The system is invaluable to the fish, but humans ringing the bell are getting a charge out of it too. “I can’t express how obsessed I am with this,” one happy viewer wrote on X. “Please remember, if ever you are tempted to make a sweeping statement about human nature, that on this night in March, 2024, while war rages, there are 171 of us looking to see if a fish needs us to ring a doorbell.”

See if a fish needs you here. The best times to look are just after sunrise and just before sunset. If there’s no action, check out the informative video newsletter, updated weekly here.