Utrecht’s fish door bell rung 220,000 times as season ends

Utrecht’s famous “fish doorbell” has ended its 2026 season and will return next year on March 1, organisers have said.

Via an underwater camera, people who spot waiting fish can ring the bell, supposedly alerting the lock keeper to the thousands of fish making the journey upstream in the river Vecht each spring.

The livestream was viewed 12 million times by 900,000 people this season according to the city of Utrecht.

Between March and June, the doorbell was rung 220,000 times, mostly by people in the United States, the Netherlands and Germany.

The doorbell, which began in 2021, took off after being featured on comedian John Oliver’s programme Last Week Tonight.

Earlier this year, local broadcaster RTV Utrecht reported that something fishy was going on with the doorbell.

The website and publicity for the scheme, which is supposed to help migratory fish move upriver to their spawning grounds, imply that webcam watchers are alerting the lock keeper to the presence of fish so they can open the gate and let the fish swim onwards.

“Did you spot a fish? Press the Fish Doorbell!,” the English version of the website says. “Then our lock keeper can let the fish through.”

However, RTV Utrecht found there is no direct link between the presence of the fish and the lock opening.

Instead, a ring on the online bell generates a photograph which goes into the city council’s database and is monitored occasionally by ecologists researching fish movements.