WASHOUGAL — It’s known as the “salmon cannon,” but Vincent Bryan III has another way of describing the latest technology being used to move migratory fish in Washington.

“It’s like a Slip’N Slide going uphill,” said Bryan, CEO of Bellevue-based Whooshh Innovations, which developed the device.

The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife recently purchased Whooshh’s Fish Transport System and deployed it on the Washougal River in east Clark County last month. The department uses the device to load fish into trucks for its hatchery program, including hundreds of tule fall chinook salmon on Tuesday.

The salmon cannon uses a vacuum-like tube to move fish from one end of the system to the other. Generator-powered pressure differentials pull fish through a flexible conduit that creates a seal around the object inside of it. WDFW workers loaded fish into the 120-foot-long tube by hand, but the device can also be set up so fish swim through on their own, Bryan said. The system uses only enough water to keep the tube slick and smooth.

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