Comin’ in hot.
According to Fox 13, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources dropped thousands of fish into lakes across southern Utah this past week. Setting up base in Bicknell, Utah, they managed restock lakes much more efficiently than ground transport.
In fact, they only airdrop smaller fish to make the landing safer:
“The air slows their drop and they fall a bit like leaves. The slower fall allows the fish to survive.
If the fish were larger, the survival rate would not be as high. We make sure to only aerially stock fish that range from 1–3 inches long.
Fish are more stressed when transported by ground because it is difficult to maintain their required oxygen levels in small, packable tanks for such long distances.”
The practice is quite common, especially in states like Colorado, Utah, and Montana, but if you’ve never seen it before, you’d be pretty surprised to find out that this is how they restock some of the more remote lakes.
Load ’em up, drop ’em in… it’s as simple as that.
