Artifishal is a vital film made by Patagonia about human hubris and self-defeating attempts to control nature. Life has been evolving on Planet Earth for billions of years. The result of this evolution is the extraordinary diversity of living things. Short sighted attempts to control nature and create profits are undoing this evolutionary complexity in a catastrophic way. The story of wild salmon is emblematic of this.

https://youtu.be/XdNJ0JAwT7I

Wild salmon are now functionally extinct on the vast North American continent. In their place, an industry has emerged with humans attempting to control the animal's entire lifecycle - starting in hatcheries and then distributing fish throughout rivers. The artificial process is not working. The extinction of wild salmon is a real possibility and related ecological systems are close to collapse. Specifically, orca numbers are dwindling without their wild food source.

The film charts the horror of realisation from fishermen, ecologists, indigenous people and nature lovers as they grapple with the demise of these irreplaceable natural systems. Human ignorance is violent and devastating. Footage of an orca mother pushing her starved, dead baby focus the viewers grief on the carnage happening to the world.

https://youtu.be/b7AwKacKS4U

It is maddening our planet is dying. It is infuriating governments spend tax payers money to do the killing. Tax payers fund the industrial intrusion into these wild animal's lives. The whales will follow the salmon to extinction

The understanding of our place in the universe has changed, Planet earth is not limitless and out task to not to extract all that we can from nature. Actually studying ecosystems, we understand better how we get fish as food. Wild habitat is the crucial source of all fish and must urgently be conserved. Dams destroy the wild runs of fish and also drive extinction.

Wild fish populations can not come back if constrained by genetically altered hatchery populations. We are now pushing up against the limitations of human myth. Humans need to relearn humility. We cannot engineer a new biosphere. We need to reintegrate healthily into the one that we have evolved from.

How far do we go manufacturing wildness before we realize it grows for free the right way?

The film

Artifishal is a film about people, rivers, and the fight for the future of wild fish and the environment that supports them. It explores wild salmon’s slide toward extinction, threats posed by fish hatcheries and fish farms, and our continued loss of faith in nature.

Directed by Josh Murphy @joshbonesmurphy.

Protect Wild Fish

Tell decision makers to stop wasting money on failed plans and invest in science-based solutions to save endangered wild salmon and orcas: Stop hatcheries, reduce harvest, remove dams and restore rivers. Sign the petition, today