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Young fish are dropped from a small airplane over Utah's mountain lakes, poured out of one tank divided into seven chambers so the fish fall the last stretch through open air. More than 300 lakes inac
Space Daily • • science
Key Points:
- Utah stocks remote high mountain lakes with fish by air-dropping fingerlings from a small single-engine plane equipped with a seven-chamber fish tank, allowing stocking of seven lakes per flight without road access.
- The fish dropped are tiny fingerlings, 1 to 3 inches long, whose small size and low weight slow their fall through air resistance, enabling them to survive the drop into the water from heights of 50 to 150 feet.
- This aerial stocking method has been used in Utah since the 1950s, replacing earlier, more labor-intensive methods like horseback transport, and currently supports over 300 high-elevation lakes annually.
- Many of these lakes naturally lack fish due to physical barriers and harsh conditions, so stocking is done primarily to support recreational fishing opportunities in remote backcountry locations.
- The success of the program hinges on the fish being small enough to survive the fall, as larger fish would have significantly lower survival rates when dropped from the plane.
