Operating drones at sea - maritime law implications

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have become increasingly popular in recent decades. Their popularity has extended from large UAVs used in military applications to small, inexpensive UAVs for the consumer market, commonly referred to as drones. Their ubiquity has not spared the maritime domain, where there are both civilian and defense applications. While several efforts have been made by airspace regulators to regulate these drones, their impact on maritime law has not been yet sufficiently explored. In this paper, we analyze the main maritime law instruments and highlight potential issues raised by the use of drones in maritime areas. While the goal is to stimulate an incipient debate, some initial suggestions to address these issues are included in the paper.