The objective of this research is to determine the technical and regulatory limitations for the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in sulfur emissions monitoring on ships in Canada. This research is based on an attempt to replicate a similar European effort to accomplish the same goal. The need to reduce the impact of ship transportation as a major source of air pollution due to the use of fuel with high sulfur content is what is driving the enforcement effort by regulatory authorities. The use of these UAVs as an emergent technology can help to mitigate that environmental challenge. An exhaustive literature review, as well as regulation analysis was used to answer this question. It was found that even though technology is feasible to monitor those emissions, the current regulatory framework is impeding to reach its full potential as flights in the shared aerospace and beyond visual line of sight is not permitted currently.