Every spring, thousands of fish swim through Utrecht, a city in the Netherlands, to find a place to lay their eggs. In this process, they help eat insects and keep the waterways clean. However, there is one problem. They have to wait at the Weerdsluis lock (水闸), which is usually closed at this time of year.
After knowing that, local ecologist Mark van Heukelum decided to help the fish. He learned that the lock keeper didn't know when there were fish waiting at the lock. Mark set up an underwater camera at the lock and connected it to a computer and an online doorbell. When someone sees fish waiting to pass, they press the doorbell and the lock keeper will open the lock to let the fish through.
But Mark couldn't keep watching the doorbell day and night. He reached out to the public to see how many people would like to lend a hand. He was surprised. In its first spring in 2021, the Fish Doorbell was rung more than 100,000 times by people all around the world.
This spring, people's interest didn't seem to wane. On the website, the number of visitors was always over 100 and could go as high as 500, depending on the time of day. Politely holding a door open for the friends of humans in the water is a feel-good act of kindness.
Some people are thinking of ways to automate (使自动化) the doorbell. But Mark thinks takes a different view. "I hope when spring comes, people will be excited to ring the doorbell again."
