Alaska BOG: No Drones For Commercial Salmon Fishing

Photo by Nicolas Halftermeyer/Wikimedia
Photo by Nicolas Halftermeyer/Wikimedia

The controvesy over drones has already affected hunting in Alaska. Now you can include commercial salmon fishing.

Here’s the Alaska Dispatch:

The Alaska Board of Game, which sets wildlife regulations, a year ago approved regulations blocking hunters from using remote-control aircraft to locate big game, and the Board of Fisheries has now moved to prohibit commercial fishermen from using drones to spot schooling salmon.

The latest action came Sunday at the Fish Board meeting in Sitka. Board members shot down the use of drones for economic reasons.

 “I’m for keeping pilots employed and not using unmanned aircraft for fish spotting,” the station reported him saying.

Board chairman Tom Kluberton agreed, according to KCAW, saying he tends “to look very hard at existing patterns of areas and fisheries, and I do like — whenever possible — to promote economic stability. We’ve had aircraft in this region for a long time. There are folks who stake their livelihoods and contribute to local economies flying their aircraft. I feel it’s just an unnecessary move” to allow drones.