To help fish migrate safely during the canal’s quiet season, Nijs and van Heukelum came up with an innovative solution: the fish doorbell (or de Visdeurbel in Dutch). Launched in spring 2021, the webpage features a live stream from an underwater camera, allowing viewers worldwide to check for fish waiting at the closed lock—then, they click a pink button on the site when the animals appear on screen.
A what next moment. The video is live.
When the doorbell first launched on March 29, 2021, many Utrecht residents thought it was an April Fools’ joke. But now, it has become widely popular. This year, the fish doorbell has had roughly 1.2 million unique users since March 1, and its viewers have rung the doorbell more than 40,000 times.
“Some people are obsessed by it, and we receive a lot of fan mail,” Nijs tells BBC Wildlife.
“Somebody who had been very depressed and anxious reached out to me and said that the fish doorbell was the only thing that … could make her feel calm and distract her from difficult thoughts,” Nijs tells Scientific American’s Riis Williams. “It really is so special for people to knowingly watch something with 900 other people around the world at the same time.”
For some it is a balm. I remember Fish TV which was similar.