Photo: Twitter / UtahDWR
Maybe you didn’t know fish can also go diving from a plane, even though this particular method of restocking lakes by plane is not new. Well, they do. And it’s quite a sight.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources managed to get everybody talking this week, after posting to Twitter a video of fish being blasted out of a flying plane straight into a lake underneath. They explained that the method was safe for the fish and efficient for them, but tongues still wagged and cries of “cruelty” were still heard.
“Fun fact: We stock many of Utah's high-mountain lakes from the air,” the tweet accompanying the video reads. “The fish are tiny - anywhere from 1–3 inches long - which allows more than 95% of them to survive the fall.”
Again, this method is not new and has been used a lot, especially for inaccessible lakes up the mountain. It sure beats carrying the fish in milk cans by car or cart as far as the road allows, and then in backpacks by people.
Still, followers worried for the 5% of the fish that don’t survive the dive, so they questioned the agency’s method.
“Because of their small size (reduced mass), the process of dropping doesn’t hurt the fish. Think of it as a high diver diving into a deep pool of water,” the agency responded. “Transporting the fish by ground takes a lot longer, and it's much more stressful on the fish. The survival rate is much higher from the air - usually between 95–99%.”
As for why the agency needs to restock the lakes in the first place, it’s because tourists can enjoy fishing without endangering the existing population.
So there you have it: a guilt-free, visually-impacting video of fish being blasted out of a plane. Because why not.
“Fun fact: We stock many of Utah's high-mountain lakes from the air,” the tweet accompanying the video reads. “The fish are tiny - anywhere from 1–3 inches long - which allows more than 95% of them to survive the fall.”
Again, this method is not new and has been used a lot, especially for inaccessible lakes up the mountain. It sure beats carrying the fish in milk cans by car or cart as far as the road allows, and then in backpacks by people.
Still, followers worried for the 5% of the fish that don’t survive the dive, so they questioned the agency’s method.
“Because of their small size (reduced mass), the process of dropping doesn’t hurt the fish. Think of it as a high diver diving into a deep pool of water,” the agency responded. “Transporting the fish by ground takes a lot longer, and it's much more stressful on the fish. The survival rate is much higher from the air - usually between 95–99%.”
As for why the agency needs to restock the lakes in the first place, it’s because tourists can enjoy fishing without endangering the existing population.
So there you have it: a guilt-free, visually-impacting video of fish being blasted out of a plane. Because why not.
Fun fact: We stock many of Utah's high-mountain lakes from the air. The fish are tiny — anywhere from 1–3 inches long — which allows more than 95% of them to survive the fall. #Utah #TroutTuesday pic.twitter.com/kotDe91Zzw
— Utah DWR (@UtahDWR) August 21, 2018
Google News