Focusing on people, rivers, and the fight for the future of wild fish and the environment that supports them, Artifishal explores wild salmon’s slide towards extinction, threats posed by hatcheries and fish farms, and our continued loss of faith in nature. Salmon have long been an icon of wild, but in our rush to meet demand and mask the larger root environmental issues, we’ve forgotten the true value of wild. Ultimately, the film sets two ideologies at odds: those who embrace the power of nature to heal and those who believe in a world that requires our continued attempts to control nature. Wild salmon have been an integral part of the northern coastal ecosystem for thousands of years, but due to the impacts of human development, they have been extirpated in 40 percent of their historical range in just the last 150 years. They have been extensively listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, but despite billions of dollars spent on recovery, they continue to decline.