Fin-tastic innovations

Heritage Interpreter Grace W. has selected some of her favourite fishy solutions to a problem posed to visitors at an interactive station in our feature exhibit, Wave of Innovation.

Check out what innovative ideas our visitors came up with in our feature exhibit, Waves of Innovation: Stories from the West Coast. The exhibit spotlights the stories of innovation in the West Coast commercial fishing industry and the effects on their communities. An interactive station called Design Your Innovation asks visitors to brainstorm a solution that helps salmon get up a blocked river.  

Two photos showing industrial equipment displayed on a blue background, with yellow text captions.
Panels from the “Design Your Innovation” station showing the “Salmon Cannon” in action in northern BC.

The “Whoosh Fish Transport System”, also known as the “Salmon Cannon”, is the inspiration for this activity. In 2019, a landslide trapped migrating salmon on a remote section of the Fraser River, creating a barrier to the vital seasonal salmon migration. This pressurized fish tube not only transported the fish from one area to another safely, but it also innovated how we help salmon deal with natural disasters and blocked waterways.  

Additionally, Design Your Innovation puts forward an important question for visitors: What does innovation mean to you? 

Some fishy solutions

For a recent young visitor named Isaac, innovation involves thinking out of the box. I had the chance to talk to “Sir Isaac the Explorer” about his impressive innovation: the motorized salmon tail. Isaac explained that the salmon would have a propeller in lieu of a fish tail. This cyborg component would allow the salmon to make it over the barrier. He specified that each motorized salmon tail would need two AA batteries in order to power the propeller.  

We received lots of superb ideas on the brainstorming board, from “salmon vacuums” to reverse waterfall-like “salmon elevators”. Other thinking-outside-of-the-box innovations include turning salmon into Minecraft blocks to conveniently carry them and creating an explosive that can unblock the river. Browse the gallery below to see some more ingenious inventions, and think about what inspires you to make innovative choices and adaptations.

  • drawing in green crayon on white paper
    Minecraft salmon – Turn salmon into Minecraft blocks in order to conveniently carry them over the blocked river.
  • coloured crayon drawing on white paper using red, orange and blue colours
    Create an explosive that can both unblock the river and drive the salmon upstream.
  • Colourful crayon drawing on white paper
    A salmon cannon that vacuums salmon from one side and fire them to the other side of the river.
  • Colourful crayon drawing on white paper
    A stair-like salmon elevator.
  • Blue crayon drawing on white paper
    A salmon vacuum.
  • Colourful crayon drawing on white paper
    A salmon seesaw which launches salmon upstream with rocks from the landslide.
  • pencil drawing on white paper with title Design Your Innovation.
    Motorized salmon tail. The propeller tail is powered by two AA batteries.