Most drone pilots know about airspace restrictions, Part 107, the upcoming Part 108 and other rules around flying drones that come from the FAA. What fewer pilots think about is the entirely separate category of drone restriction that lives inside wildlife protection law. And a notice buried in the Federal Register this month offers a surprisingly detailed look at what that actually means on the ground.
Here’s the tl;dr: BP America Production Company needed federal permission to fly drones near polar bears on Alaska’s North Slope. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is proposing to grant it — with a set of drone operating procedures written directly into the permit that reads, in places, like an FAA operations manual. Its own approvals require minimum altitudes, mandatory avoidance maneuvers, pre-flight bear surveys and half-mile no-landing zones around observed animals.
Why BP is flying around polar bears
Since 2023, oil giant BP has been cleaning up the Foggy Island Bay State No. 1 gravel pad, which is a former drilling exploration site in the Prudhoe Bay area. The remaining 2026 work includes debris removal, backfill, revegetation, and water sampling. Before ground crews access the site each day, a drone surveys the area for polar bears. If the site is clear, crews go in. If bears are present, they don’t.
Alaska Clean Seas operates the UAS program, all pilots hold Part 107 certificates, and the site is more than six miles outside controlled airspace, where they fly under standard Part 107 operations at up to 400 feet AGL. Its routine commercial drone work, by most measures — except one thing. Polar bears are classified as marine mammals under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972, and that changes things considerably.
Why a federal wildlife permit is required for a drone survey
The MMPA prohibits the “take” of marine mammals, and take includes harassment — defined as any act that has the potential to disturb a marine mammal by disrupting behavioral patterns including migration, breathing, nursing, feeding, or sheltering. Flying a drone over a polar bear could qualify, even if the bear doesn’t visibly react.
The FWS cited a 2015 study on American black bears showing measurable increases in heart rate from drone overflights even when animals showed no outward behavioral response. They acknowledged they can’t directly apply that finding to polar bears — but they can’t rule it out either. Thus, drone operations in the area require an Incidental Harassment Authorization before flights begin.
BP’s proposed authorization covers up to three Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears disturbed by what’s defined as “Level B harassment” over the one-year period. Though there is no intent to cause injury or even disturbance, there is the possibility that a drone survey might alter a bear’s behavior, which is enough to require a federal permit.
The actual drone rules written into the permit
So what’s in the FWS permit? In short, it’s a specific set of operational procedures baked into the permit conditions, which become binding requirements that function essentially as mission-specific flight rules.
Drones must fly between 200 and 400 feet AGL during surveys, excluding takeoff and landing. If a polar bear is spotted during a flight, the pilot must immediately climb to 400 feet and fly away. The pilot is not allowed to take any further approach after initial observation. Rules also stipulate no unnecessary turning, hovering, or circling within half a mile of a known bear. Other rules include “no maneuvers that might separate individual bears from a group” and “No intentional hazing under any circumstances.”
Before each day’s flights, the area must be visually checked from Endicott Road. If a bear is visible from the road, drone operations don’t begin until it’s confirmed gone. Drones cannot land within half a mile of any observed bear. If operations result in an unauthorized take — more than three bears disturbed, or a bear disturbed in a manner outside the authorization’s scope — flights stop immediately, the FWS gets notified within 48 hours, and operations stay suspended until the agency signs off on resuming.
What this actually means for commercial drone operators
The drone community tends to think about regulatory compliance in terms of airspace. But FAA authority, Part 107, LAANC authorization, TFRs and whatnot are just one layer of a regulatory stack that’s gotten more complicated as drones have moved into more environments.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act, which dates to 1972, was written to govern boats, vehicles, and human activity near whales and seals and sea lions. Sure, nobody writing that law was thinking about drones, yet today it governs altitude minimums on the Arctic tundra for a drone.
There are some examples of other agencies regulation drones. For example, national park airspace restrictions run through National Park Service authority, and agricultural drone operations can intersect with EPA pesticide rules. Any work done near an endangered species critical habitat can trigger Endangered Species Act consultation requirements.
For operators working in environmental monitoring, energy inspection, infrastructure assessment, or anywhere that puts them in proximity to sensitive natural areas: FAA compliance is necessary but not always sufficient. Your work may trigger a separate permit requirement.
By the way, the public comment period on BP’s proposed authorization is open until July 10, 2026. Comments go to regulations.gov, Docket No. FWS-R7-ES-2025-0506, if this is the kind of thing you have feelings about.
The post Did you know? There are drone rules around polar bears appeared first on The Drone Girl.