You’re staring at a screen, waiting for a flash of silver. A snout appears. Then a dorsal fin. Finally, a massive Chinook salmon glides past the glass, indifferent to the fact that thousands of people might be watching its every move from their living rooms. This is the bonneville dam fish count camera experience, and honestly, it’s one of the most oddly addictive corners of the internet.
But here’s the thing. Most people think they’re just looking at a glorified aquarium. They aren’t.
That window is a high-stakes data point in a multi-billion-dollar ecological balancing act. It is where the raw reality of the Columbia River meets the cold, hard numbers used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). If you’ve ever refreshed the feed only to see a blank screen or a murky green void, you’ve probably wondered what’s actually going on behind that glass.
The Tech Behind the Bonneville Dam Fish Count Camera
It isn’t just one guy with a webcam and a dream. The setup is actually a partnership. Seattle-based Discover Your Northwest, the Skamania County Chamber of Commerce, and Sawtooth Technologies basically team up to provide the bandwidth and gear that keeps the stream alive for the public.
The cameras are tucked inside the fish-counting stations at the ladders on both the Oregon and Washington shores.
Historically, this was a manual job. A person literally sat in a small room—kinda like a subterranean toll booth—and watched the fish swim by for 50 minutes of every hour. They’d hit buttons on a specialized keyboard to log species. Chinook? Click. Steelhead? Click. Shad? A lot of clicking.
Nowadays, it’s a hybrid world. While human counters still handle the primary "day counts" (typically 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. during peak seasons), video technology has taken over the night shifts and winter months. According to USACE Portland District, when those night counts happen, they record the full 60 minutes of each hour. No estimates, just raw footage reviewed by technicians.
Why the Feed Sometimes Looks Like Pea Soup
Ever log on and see... nothing? Or maybe just a swirling cloud of silt?
That’s the Columbia River being the Columbia River. The bonneville dam fish count camera doesn't have a "clean" setting. Visibility depends entirely on river turbidity—how much gunk is floating in the water. After a big rainstorm or during the spring freshet, the visibility drops to near zero.
It’s also important to realize these cameras are fixed. They aren't panning around to find the fish. If a fish swims too high or too low, or if it decides to hang out just out of frame, you won't see it. It’s a literal window into their world, and sometimes their world is just dark water.
Reading the Real Numbers
If you want the "spoilers" for what you're seeing on camera, you have to look at the Adult Fish Passage reports. These aren't just for nerds; they're the pulse of the river.
- Species Breakdown: You'll see Chinook (Adults and "Jacks"), Steelhead (Clipped and Unclipped), Coho, Sockeye, Shad, and the weirdly prehistoric-looking Lamprey.
- The 1.2 Multiplier: Here’s a secret about the day counts. Since the human counters take a 10-minute break every hour, the USACE takes the 50-minute count and multiplies it by 1.2 to estimate the total for that hour.
- The Seasonality: Don't expect a parade in January. The big show starts in the spring.
The counts have been happening at Bonneville since 1938. That's a massive dataset. It’s what fishery managers use to decide if they should open or close a fishing season. For example, just this year in 2026, managers are tweaking sturgeon retention rules because the data shows they need a different approach to keep the fishery sustainable.
The AI Revolution in the Ladder
Something cool is happening behind the scenes. A company called Four Peaks Environmental, along with Hecate Software, has been rolling out better tech to manage these counts.
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They use specialized software called "Anadromous" to streamline the process. But the real "future" stuff involves Boulder AI cameras. These units use artificial intelligence to detect when a fish is actually in the frame. Instead of a human having to watch hours of empty water, the AI flags the "events," allowing the counter to jump straight to the action.
It’s basically a highlight reel for fish counters.
How to Get the Best View
If you’re serious about "fish watching," timing is everything.
The spring Chinook run usually peaks in late April or May. If you want to see absolute chaos, tune in during the Shad run in June. We’re talking millions of fish. The water on the bonneville dam fish count camera can look like a silver blizzard.
- Check the DART system: Use the Columbia River DART (Data Access in Real Time) website to see which dams are currently seeing the most action.
- Morning is best: Activity often picks up as the sun rises and the water warms slightly.
- Look for the markers: Most counting windows have measurement lines on the glass. This helps the counters (and you) tell the difference between a "Jack" (a younger, smaller salmon) and a full-grown adult.
Common Misconceptions
People often ask why the fish aren't jumping.
Well, they’re in a ladder. The ladder is designed to provide a series of "steps" or pools that allow the fish to swim over the dam without needing to do a massive, exhausting leap. They’re basically using a very long, watery staircase. What you see through the camera is just one of the viewing windows along that staircase.
Another weird thing? Sometimes you’ll see fish swimming downstream through the ladder. Those are often "fallbacks"—fish that made it over but got swept back, or perhaps they’re looking for a different tributary.
Actionable Steps for the Amateur Fish Watcher
If you want to move beyond just casually staring at the screen, here is how you "pro" the experience.
First, pull up the Live Fish Data from the Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board or the USACE Portland District "Fish Data" page. Keep the data table in one tab and the live camera feed in another. When you see a surge in the numbers on the daily report, that’s your cue to watch the live feed more closely.
Second, visit in person if you can. The Bonneville Lock and Dam visitor centers (on both the Oregon and Washington sides) are world-class. Standing on the other side of that glass while a 40-pound salmon stares back at you is a lot different than watching it on a smartphone.
Finally, pay attention to the "Clipped" vs "Unclipped" steelhead. A clipped fin means it’s a hatchery fish. An unclipped fin means it’s a wild fish. Being able to spot that difference in real-time makes you more than a viewer—it makes you a part of the monitoring community.
Log on during the peak of the spring run, keep the DART numbers open, and watch the history of the Columbia River swim past your screen one tail-beat at a time.