This paper presents an end-to-end framework, implementing coastal management through an efficient and safe strategy utilizing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). The proposed scheme (This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101180146) exploits an image-based analytical model as a target descriptor and combines it with Event-Triggered Nonlinear Model Predictive Control and Barrier Functions for safe, efficient, and accurate surveillance. Real-time simulations and experiments deploying an autonomous quadrotor UAV with a camera demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method.