Evidence gathered by a remotely piloted aircraft, or drone, has helped Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) land a conviction for a fisheries offense in Atlantic Canada, reports the CBC.

A person from the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island (PEI) was given a CAD 5,000 ($3,555) fine and banned from fishing for the first seven days of the 2025 lobster fishing season after being convicted in a PEI court of tampering with lobster fishing gear in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The offense was caught on video gathered by a DFO drone during the 2024 fishing season in Lobster Fishing Area 26A, which encompasses an area along the northeast and southern shores of PEI to the north shore of Nova Scotia.

"It's like having a fishery officer 300 feet in the air,"  PEI-based DFO conservation supervisor Matthew MacEwen is quoted by the CBC.

The department has been using drones to monitor several fisheries in the Gulf region since 2021. However, this is the first time the footage was used in a court case, MacEwan said, adding that gear tampering has become a common problem in lobster fishing areas around PEI.