PORTLAND, Maine — The U.S. government can continue requiring America’s lobster fishing boats to use electronic tracking devices to collect data, a federal appeals court has ruled, denying claims by some in the industry that the monitoring amounts to unreasonable search and seizure.
Fishing regulators began requiring federally permitted lobstermen to install electronic tracking devices that transmit location data in late 2023. The data improves understanding of the lobster population and can inform future rules, authorities said.
The tracking devices transmit lobster boat locations using an onboard global positioning system and must be used whenever a vessel is in the water, including when it’s docked or being operated for personal use, court records state.
A group of lobster fishermen sued, claiming the tracking requirements are unconstitutional, but a federal district court rejected that claim and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston upheld the ruling Tuesday.
Regulators have said the lobster stock is in decline and the species is being overfished off New England. Conservation groups cheered the most recent court ruling as a step toward greater accountability.
“Our fishery managers urgently need reliable and detailed data to respond to the complex issues facing our ocean,” said Conservation Law Foundation staff attorney Chloe Fross.
The U.S. lobster industry is based mostly out of Maine, where lobstermen who filed the lawsuit are based. Messages seeking comment from their attorneys were left Thursday.
The appeals court ruled that the tracking devices do not violate the fishermen’s constitutional rights in part because the devices “record a limited and specific type of data and report only that.”
The Maine Lobstermen’s Association, which was not a plaintiff in the lawsuit, has opposed around-the-clock tracking of lobster boats. Instead, data should be collected in a way that protects fishermen’s privacy, the association said in a statement.
“The MLA has voiced strong opposition to the continuous, 24/7 tracking requirement because Maine lobstermen use their vessels for personal activities as well as commercial fishing,” the association said in a statement.
Maine’s annual lobster catch has dipped for several consecutive years and fell below 90 million pounds in 2024. That is still much larger than the industry’s usual haul during the early 2000s, and the popular seafood remains readily available to consumers, though prices have ticked up in recent years.
Collecting data from lobster boats is important to assure the future health of the industry, said Carl Wilson, commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
“The confidentially held data provided by lobster fishing vessels will improve stock assessment, enhance offshore enforcement, and inform management decisions, particularly where an accurate understanding of the fishery’s footprint can be used to mitigate economic harm to the industry,” Wilson said.
Story by Patrick Whittle, Associated Press
