A hefty fine has been handed to a Vancouver film company for operating a drone too close to killer whales.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) announced the $30,000 penalty on Monday saying this is the first time a fine has been issued in Canada for the unlawful use of a drone to capture killer whale footage.
An investigation by a fishery officer found River Road Films Ltd. operated a drone too close to northern resident killer whales on Vancouver Island in August 2021.
Northern resident killer whales are currently designated as threatened in Canada under the Species at Risk Act, due to their small population size and low reproductive rate.
River Road Films Ltd. was found to have used drones and also underwater video to capture the pod.
River Road Films Ltd. pleaded guilty to unlawfully capturing drone footage of a pod at a "rubbing beach." Northern resident killer whales will head to shallow waters near the shore and brush against the smooth pebbles below. DFO says this strengthens family bonds and feels like a massage.
A $25,000 fine was given to River Road Films Ltd. for using or distributing the drone footage. DFO did not specifically say what the footage was used for, only that it was a documentary. A $5,000 fine was issued to the drone operator, Matthew Hood.
Glacier Media has reached out to both Hood and River Road Films Ltd. for comment about the fines.
"Both the film company and the drone operator are first-time offenders,” says a spokesperson with DFO.
Marine mammal regulations not followed
Drones are considered aircraft and DFO says marine mammals can be disturbed by them.
In 2020, River Roads Film Ltd. and the sister company United Kingdom applied for a DFO permit to film species at risk such as killer whales for a documentary. This application was denied and not approved.
In Canada, it is illegal to approach marine mammals with an aerial drone at an altitude below 1,000 feet and within half a nautical mile. It is also against the law to disturb a marine mammal.
"Disturbing includes trying to feed, swim or interact with it, cause it to move, separate it from its group, get between it and a calf, trap it between a vessel and the shore, or between another vessel, and tag or mark it,” states DFO.
Marine mammal regulations require vessels to be 400 metres away from all killer whales in southern B.C. waters or 200 metres from killer whales in all other Canadian Pacific waters.
'Pretty disheartening'
Suzie Hall with OrcaLab was monitoring the charity’s remote camera at the rubbing beach near Telegraph Cove when she spotted a drone flying over northern resident killer whales.
“We witnessed the drone being launched and hovering what seemed about 10 metres over the orcas as they were rubbing during the event,” she tells Glacier Media.
“It was pretty disheartening to see just because I know the beach. I know what it’s usually like when there’s no people on it,” she says, adding people were on the beach a few days prior as well.
After the team at OrcaLab witnessed the incident they notified DFO of the filming.
“That underwater footage was then actually used in the Island of the Sea Wolves,” says Hall.
That footage Hall referred to remains in episode three of Island of the Sea Wolves, an Emmy-award-winning 2022 Netflix series.
“They have [underwater] footage and footage taken from a surface camera which they were operating on the cliff next to our remote camera,” she says.
Hall explained capturing the underwater footage required strapping a camera to a weight. Then, as the whales came in, the people left but the cameras remained waiting “for the rubbing to happen.”
For Hall, the incident sends an important message.
“We should be adopting a zero-tolerance policy to the disturbance of wildlife, especially when there are very clear marine mammal regulations in place when it comes to filmmaking… ethics have to be the number one priority,” said Hall.
“So I'm… sort of glad that this has happened, but it is unfortunate because it was a very B.C., local B.C.-based production.”
She says clearer regulations are needed.
“There are very clear regulations around drone usage, but beach rubbing as a behaviour that we know happens up and down the coast… Currently, you can be standing with your feet touching the water, and not technically be going against any regulations, but you may still be be disturbing them when they're metres away. So I'd like to see that come into consideration for the next round of marine mammal guidelines.”
The society is working on getting the rubbing beach protected. In the meantime, Hall says anyone who is fortunate enough to see an orca from the shore doing something like beach rubbing, should “sit calmly, be still.”
“Enjoy it and try and disturb them as little as possible and just enjoy it for yourselves,” she says.
