This salmon cannon can shoot 40 fish a minute

(Image credit: Screenshot/Youtube)

last updated 8 January 2015

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."