Airplanes dropped thousands of fish into hundreds of lakes in dramatic moments captured on video that has gone viral. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources last week replenished the lakes, a practice the state has followed for more than a half-century.
‘WHEN FISH FLY. No, it’s not hyperbole,’ the agency wrote in a tweet with the footage. ‘It’s the time of year when we stock high-elevation lakes aerially.’
The clip, which includes epic-sounding audio, shows a plane flying low over a lake and spraying out countless long and slender fish. Their dark color sharply contrasts with the white water they are released with.
‘Because the fish are small and released along with water, they easily survive their airplane drop without injury,’ the agency explained.
In a description on YouTube on Friday, the agency stated it used to load fish into milk cans and utilized horses to reach remote areas.
‘The aerial method of stocking is much quicker and less stressful for the fish,’ the agency wrote. ‘We’ve had success stocking fish into mountain lakes like this since the 1950s!’
Additionally it advises: ‘If you see flying fish at Utah’s remote waters, don’t be alarmed.’
The video also shows the fish being loaded onto buckets for transport. The aircraft used in the video is a 1976 CESSNA A185F owned by the state. Each plane is capable of lifting as many as 35,000 fish and hundreds of pounds of water, according to the agency. The fish are one to three inches long.
Lakes in the Boulder Mountain region that get replenished by planes are mostly inaccessible by other forms of transportation.
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