• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment says that fishing using drones remains illegal despite legal challenges.
• The department says that even while a leave to appeal has been granted, provisions of the Marine Living Resources Act remain in place.
• Drone fishing can negatively impact marine life by luring in shoals of fish to areas they ordinarily wouldn’t go.

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has had to reiterate that the use of drones for fishing remains illegal.

Last year in February the department discovered that bait-carrying drones, bait boats controlled remotely and other tech was being used to catch fish and sharks. The department issued a notice stating that the use of this equipment for recreational fishing is illegal.

“As previously indicated, these devices are prohibited when recreationally angling and members of the public were warned that enforcement action would be taken where anglers were found using these devices,” DFFE writes.

Since February, however, there have been legal challenges to this legality which have sown some confusion.

“Gannet Works Proprietary Limited & Others brought an application against the Deputy Director-General: Fisheries Management and the Minister responsible for Forestry Fisheries and the Environment. This application sought, amongst others, to ask the court to issue a declarator to state that the use of bait carrying drones, bait carrying remote controlled boats and other remotely operated devices is not prohibited in terms of the Marine Living Resources Act, 1998 (Act No. 18 of 1998) (MLRA) and the regulations published thereunder,” the department reports.

However, this application was dismissed several times before leave to appeal was granted by the Supreme Court of Appeal on 2nd May this year.

This leave to appeal has reportedly caused the aforementioned confusion and some recreational fishers are under the impression that the notice issued in February 2022 is now void which isn’t the case.

“Indeed, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has obtained senior counsel opinion which clearly states that the application for leave to appeal having been granted does not in any way invalidate the 24 February 2022 notification, which notification was a summary and explanation of the legal provisions in the MLRA as they relate to recreational angling. Drone fishing remains prohibited despite leave to appeal having been granted,” the DFFE said.

“This is because although leave to appeal suspends the operation of the previous order of the High Court, such suspension does not serve to suspend the operation, execution and enforcement of the statutory obligations of recreational fishers, which obligations were in existence at the time of the hearing of the application and were not in any way changed by the decision of the High Court,” the department adds.

So what’s the problem with using drones to fish?

For one, drones can be used to draw in shoals of fish from far into the ocean closer to the shore where recreational fishers can more easily catch them. We highly recommend giving this piece published by One Ocean Hub to get a better idea of why fishing with drones can be so damaging.

For now you may want to stick to rods and nets. Don’t think of pulling the old dynamite in the water trick either, that too is illegal in South Africa.

[Image – Volker Lekies from Pixabay]