Ban on drone fishing could hurt sport, Texas business owner says

Disabled vets could be hurt by new drone fishing ban

A new ban on fishing by using drones in Texas could hurt some small businesses, who say disabled veterans use drones to assist in the sport as an alternative to traditional methods.

CLUTE, Texas - Drones have been prohibited from use for fishing in Texas, drawing concerns from some involved in the industry.

The ban is a result of rules and regulations from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Some people, including one small business in Clute, Texas, are expressing worries about the change.

Drone fishing ban

What we know:

The TPWD said in their Monday release that they've reviewed the regulations on airborne hunting and determined that using drones to fish falls under the scope of banned methods. 

The release refers to the use of drones to assist in deploying bait, as it's considered aiding in the take or attempt to take wildlife. 

What we don't know:

The penalty for violating the law is not included in the release or regulations. 

Effect on Texas businesses

Local perspective:

Clute business owner Williams Yearsin says because of the kind of fishing he does, this is going to hurt the sport and his wife's business, Hooked on Tackle.  

Yearsin says that as a disabled veteran, he can’t kayak out in the water like others can, so this helps him and the drone has given him the ability to get back into the sport the way he loves, but the new regulation will hurt him. 

What they're saying:

"So where we live down here there’s one of the larger sports, ‘land bass shark fishing.’ It’s using a drone or other means of deploying a bait to catch sharks, bullreds or larger predatory species from the surf from the beach without a boat or anything else. It’s a very big market, not just for us with our store, but you have several people who run charters. That’s their business," said Yearsin.

Texas Parks and Wildlife responds

The other side:

TPWD sent the following release to FOX Local in response to a request for comment: 

"The Federal Airborne Hunting Act falls under the administration of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) at the federal level. There has not been a new regulation enacted, or any changes made at the state level. Our intent with publicizing this information and updating the Texas Outdoor Annual was to inform the public of the federal statute (AHA/50 CFR § 19.11). If someone chooses to use an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), also known as drones, to deploy bait while bank or surf fishing, it is a federal, not state level violation, and no state charges would be incurred. However, we do not condone or authorize violating federal law."

Yearsin says the language that they are basing this new policy change on is outdated. 

"The verbiage that they use is, to take, attempt to take or aid in catching a fish. I don’t see how, when they wrote this in 1956, they thought about using drones to drop the bait for and then catch the fish by legal means, which is rod and reel, which is what is required by law. And what I found out about this is not even a law this is a regulation inside the law that they’re interpreting," Yearsin said. "That’s cool to put rules and regulations in place, but don’t use something vague to cut it all out, so I’m hoping that the word gets out to the right people so we have change."