SCA confirms that drone fishing remains illegal

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has confirmed that drone fishing is illegal. Five judges dismissed a legal appeal by Gannet Works and four other companies that make, market or sell angling equipment such as bait-carrying drones and other remote-controlled bait-carrying devices. The Daily Maverick reports that the Cape Town-based company claims it has sold more than 20 000 drone fishing and release systems to anglers in 147 countries. However, concerned about the potential impact of this technology on SA’s marine resources, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries & the Environment (DFFE) published a notice in February 2022, warning recreational anglers that drone fishing was illegal and that they would be taken to court if caught. When the DFFE warned that it would prosecute drone fishers, Gannet and the other four companies went to court after their sales plummeted, but the Gauteng High Court rejected their application to permit drone fishing. It noted that the Constitution imposes a legal obligation on the government to protect the environment for the benefit of present and future generations through ‘reasonable legislative and other measures’.

In a ruling written by Judge Fikile Mokgohloa, the court noted that recreational anglers were only authorised to fish ‘manually’, and this definition implicitly excluded the use of remote-controlled, motorised equipment, such as drones. DM notes that counsel for Gannet and the other companies argued that once a fishing permit was issued, an angler was free to engage in any form of fishing activity 'using whatever methods that may be available' (including aircraft), provided this method was not specifically prohibited by law. Mokgohloa rejected the ’ill conceived’ argument. ‘As stated earlier, once the angler has been issued with the permit for angling, the angler is not at liberty to use any method other than the one that is provided for in the regulations, that is, fishing by manually operating a rod, reel and line or one or more separate lines to which no more than 10 hooks are attached per line. To use any other method other than the authorised one would be unlawful.’