Desperate salmon seeking to satisfy their insane upstream urges often find their way blocked by impenetrable walls of concrete. This has led to many runs of salmon, particularly in the hydro-rich Pacific Northwest, being listed under the Endangered Species Act. Some dams provide fish ladders to provide passage to the upper reaches of the river; others laboriously catch the fish by hand and truck them up to their spawning grounds. But until now, no one ever considered shooting them from a canon.

The company that came up with this genius notion is Whooshh Innovations, a Bellevue, Washington, based company that originally deployed its vacuum pressure transportation systems in the interest of gently packing fruit. Here is a greatly entertaining company video on how the system works with fish: 

The system is now being tested by the Yakama Nation Fisheries at the Roza Dam. Fish shot through the tube are tagged and will be tracked by biologists to see if there are any deleterious effects to being shot out of a canon.  Anyone who has ever witnessed a salmon beating its head against the rocks of a natural waterfall as it attempts to swim upstream, however, will concluded that vacuum transport looks like a cushy deal.