With the fish doorbell, viewers from all over the world can follow the underwater life around the Weerdsluis in Utrecht live. They can also help fish that want to pass through the lock from the Vecht to Utrecht to mate on the other side of the city. When a fish appears on the screen, press the doorbell button on the site.
By pressing the bell, the city ecologists of the municipality of Utrecht receive a signal and they can open the lock, which is normally closed, slightly so that the fish can pass through.
The fish doorbell has been a great success since it started in 2021. Initially, people thought it was an April Fool’s joke, but when it turned out that there really is a doorbell for fish, it quickly attracted thousands of curious visitors.
Tiktok
The visitor numbers only really sloshed over the quay when the stream was picked up by Tiktokkers last year, including the popular Thunder Keck from the US.
Also this year, Thunder Kick has recorded another Tiktok video in which he praises the fish doorbell. That video, which appeared online 5 days ago, has now been viewed more than 3.3 million times. “Don’t freak out, but it’s fish doorbell season again, the most wonderful time of the year,” Thuder Kick says in the video.
In addition to social media, the fish doorbell is also popular in traditional media. The British newspaper The Guardian and the BBC, among others, already wrote about the fish passage this year.
Success continues to increase
According to urban ecologist Mark van Heukelum, initiator of the fish doorbell, there seems to be almost no brake on the doorbell’s popularity. “Strangely enough, it’s only getting bigger. After all the great attention last year, and the many fish that were allowed through, we thought we had reached the peak. But last year we had 1.2 at the end of the season million visitors to the site. We have now reached that number in four weeks.”
The success also creates new challenges. For example, the fish doorbell is sometimes pressed a thousand times a day, even if there are no fish waiting at the lock. “We now use automatic image recognition to scan through the photos very quickly. This way we can quickly put aside the photos that have nothing on them.”
Van Heukelum calls it a luxury problem. “The fish doorbell has two purposes: to let fish through, and to show people what a special world can be seen under water. The first still works, and the second even more so.”
Cloudy
Anyone who looks at the fish doorbell now mainly sees cloudy water. But hopefully that will change soon. “Compared to four weeks ago, the water is already becoming clearer,” says Van Heukelum. “It rained a lot in the winter. The rain carries sand, clay and dust, which makes the water cloudy. But the further into the year, the less it becomes. In a few weeks, visibility will probably be almost one meter. “
The success of the fish passage in Utrecht ensures more attention for the subject. “I am now also working on another initiative with the municipality of Utrecht, where people help to visualize wildlife passages on land. And in Rotterdam they now also want to make a fish doorbell in the harbor. That was a few years ago. never happened, our success creates enormous momentum.
Technology has now advanced so far that the fish doorbell system could also be automated with artificial intelligence, but Van Heukelum does not see that for the time being. “Automation may be possible, but we now choose to do it with people,” he says. “This way we kill two birds with one stone: the fish can get through, and people enjoy it and become enthusiastic about the underwater world.”
Anyone who wants to take a look at the fish in front of the Utrecht Weerdsluis and help the fish cross can still visit the fish doorbell website until mid to late June. Then the mating season is over.
Tags: Utrecht fish doorbell popular year rung thousand times day
