This salmon cannon can shoot 40 fish a minute

(Image credit: Screenshot/Youtube)

Activists trying to save salmon is nothing new. Innovations like the fish ladder have helped salmon return to their birthplace to lay eggs if dams are in their way. A new invention, though, is putting the fish ladder to shame: The salmon cannon will shoot the fish to their homes at incredible speeds.

Whooshh Innovations, a company that rose to fame after using tubes to transport fruit, created the salmon cannon to protect the fish from hydroelectric dams. The cannon seals the fish in and transports them at speeds ranging from 11 to 22 miles per hour. Whooshh tells CNET that the cannon "could provide cheap, safe, fast transport for fish, both in fisheries and in the wild."

The salmon cannon has been tested in Washington state and seems to be working well for the fish, who learned to swim into the cannon themselves. Watch the salmon cannon's testing in the video below. --Meghan DeMaria