Almuñécar and La Herradura have moved into the 21st Century with the use of drones to keep an eye on the beaches, which was an electoral pledge made by the Mayor.
They’re certainly coming in handy, keeping a watchful eye on jet-ski users to make sure they keep at least 200 metres away from the beaches.
A drone was on display on one of La Herradura’s beaches during the presentation of this aero-surveillance device given by the Mayor, Juan José Ruiz Joya, and two of his councillors.
Or course, it’s not all about keeping an eye on annoyingly, noisey troublemakers but also getting to somebody in trouble out in the water in record time. Some can be used to drop bouyancy devices, although this one looks a bit too small for that.
Going back to jet-ski users, like most drones this one works with GPS so it can be used to get exact coordinates of riders coming to close to the shore. These coordinates then can be transmitted to the Capitanía Marítima so that a corresponding fine can be drawn up.
The municipality has two ‘hot spots’ where most problems occur involving jet-skis and those are Playa Velilla and La Herradura where the slip ways are for getting craft in and out of the water. Even though the ‘slip ways’ are little more than shallow low points in beaches, there are windlasses there for getting small fishing boats out of the water.
A specialised company has been hired for this aero-surveillance service, which will provide this service between 14.00h until 20.00h, seven days a week, throughout the summer, or until the end of August, at least.
However, the Mayor was quick to point out that there was no way that they could fine everybody they caught being naughty. Let’s hope that the drone pilots are not too distracted by what’s on the beach instead of what’s in the water.
The drone might not be able to make tea and vaporise offenders, but it does have a loudspeaker to transmit instructions and a camera with a zoom that enables it to focus on identification markings on such craft from 500 metres away.
(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)