In the spirit of Washington Governor Inslee’s call to accelerate recovery efforts for the benefit of salmon and the orca, Whooshh Innovations demonstrated its state-of-the-art fish passage technology at the Chief Joseph Dam.
Working together with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and the US Army Corps of Engineers, all necessary permits were issued to deploy the Whooshh Passage Portal™ just below Chief Joseph dam during the 2019 Summer and Fall Chinook salmon runs.
Chief Joseph Dam marks the farthest point salmon can migrate up the Columbia River system.
The versatility of the Whooshh Passage Portal to be land or water-based opens up opportunities for site location selection, based on what is best for the fish.
The Whooshh Passage Portal™ was anchored offshore on a floating barge, near the base of the Chief Joe Dam. Within weeks the system was operational and demonstrating the following core functions.
volitional entry
scanning & sorting
transport
Our FishL Recognition™ machine-vision scanning product produces 18 crystal clear images of every fish, generating next level data for improved fisheries management. Our Gatekeeper™ is where our automated, real time sorting decisions are made for each fish. This is important so that we can remove invasive species and sort between hatchery and wild fish.
