sock it to me

April 7, 2016 11:02 PM

Lake Iliamna Salmon Migration
posted by the man of twists and turns (11 comments total)

Wow, really beautiful stuff. All those intensely red salmon... Gorgeous.

I'm feeling conflicted about drones these days. On the one hand, they can be used to produce lovely images like these. On the other, drones are horrifyingly invasive and annoying. Last week one hovered over my quite private yard, in which I was relaxing, for nearly ten minutes, buzzing loudly and clearly taking a good look around. I had no idea who was piloting the thing and felt vulnerable and powerless, giving serious thought to looking for my old Crossman air pistol. (Not wanting to emperil the neighbors I refrained.)

So much as I love the images, I wonder about the hikers and fisherman who were filmed from above--were they aware of the buzzing surveillance overhead? Did it shatter the peace of a perfect day in the wilderness? I cringe at the thought that now even the quietest corners of the planet are no longer safe from technological invasion.
posted by kinnakeet at 2:36 AM on April 8, 2016 [4 favorites]

I wonder about the hikers and fisherman who were filmed from above--were they aware of the buzzing surveillance overhead? Did it shatter the peace of a perfect day in the wilderness?

According to the blurb below the video, most of the people shown are a research crew doing spawning surveys. I do hope they talked to the fishermen before filming them, because those drones are indeed loud and intrusive. You can see the fish noticing the low flying drone in one of the shots as well.

But it is a really neat video and I'm glad it was posted here. Up until about a hundred years ago that is what rivers from California all the way up to Alaska would have looked like every year -- full of spawning fish all the way up the top of small creeks. Dams, overfishing, and habitat destruction depleted most of the runs, and climate change will shift the salmon's range northward as well.
posted by Dip Flash at 3:47 AM on April 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Up until about a hundred years ago that is what rivers from California all the way up to Alaska would have looked like every year

Two hundred years ago for the San Francisco Bay region. Hydraulic mining during the gold rush was pretty rough on the salmon population.
posted by ryanrs at 4:13 AM on April 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

It didn't really do anything for me. It's comforting that there are fish there, I guess.
posted by amtho at 6:03 AM on April 8, 2016

Might be nice to link to the original video, which is here: https://vimeo.com/146049113, rather than the "Viral Videos" version.
posted by rafaella gabriela sarsaparilla at 6:18 AM on April 8, 2016 [3 favorites]

The images are beautiful, but the editing is horrendous. Everything is in 5-second bursts. Just when I'm getting into a scene, figuring out what's happening, it changes. It was edited like a music video, rather than a nature documentary.
posted by yesster at 7:02 AM on April 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I didn't like the music either. Silence would have been nicer.
posted by amtho at 7:33 AM on April 8, 2016

However, thank you for the link, man of t-and-ts!
posted by amtho at 7:33 AM on April 8, 2016

This is awesome.
He wrote.
From his cubicle.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:33 AM on April 8, 2016

I am honestly surprised that this video did not include one or more bears going absolutely bonkers.
posted by CynicalKnight at 8:52 PM on April 8, 2016

I loved the video, and the music. They used a high quality camera in this video, the subsequent videos were frustrating to view because of shallow depth of field, and low pixel density. I found the area breathtaking, and I was glad to see the fish. Just ate some Alaska sockeye, I don't know if these are they. I loved seeing the trees wave.
posted by Oyéah at 9:32 PM on April 8, 2016