The preparations for the journey are given is brief statements that don’t tell us as much as we would like. They lay snares to catch birds to take with them. They also take fish. The implication of these things is that they are taking live animals. Of course this might simply be provisioning of the group, but the command of the lord was to go with “their flocks which they had gathered together, male and female, of every kind.”
This emphasis on the male and female highlights the breeding aspect of the flock, and since this immediately precedes the collection of the birds and the fish, we are seeing a recounting of a literal gathering of all the animals. The biggest clue to what is happening here is the inclusion of the vessel for the “fish of the waters.” The logistics of moving a breeding population of multiple live fish is tremendous. There is little chance that the Jaredites could have arranged such a wondrous feat, nor that there would be a real necessity for it. It is most probable that this is not really a historical statement, but rather a symbolic one that continues to connect the Jaredites to the story of Noah and the ark.