Not sure where I stand on this, with the exception is that this tack citing Constitution Amendment precedent.
Five lobstermen are suing the Maine Department of Marine Resources over a new regulation that requires tracking devices on boats that fish in federal waters, something they say violates their privacy rights.
The trackers had to be installed by Dec. 15 per a new federal regulation from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. According to the DMR, the trackers periodically monitor the locations of a lobstering or crabbing vessel to help identify fishing patterns, which are then used to help grow the fishing stock and better protect the endangered North American right whale population – a contentious issue in the fishing community.
But the lobstermen and other fishing groups believe the trackers pose serious privacy concerns that violate multiple U.S. constitutional amendments and are unfair to the fishermen’s personal and commercial interests.
“The Plaintiffs contend that minute-by-minute surveillance of Maine’s federally licensed lobster fleet is unconstitutional, unwarranted and unfair to Maine lobstermen, who have proven through the actions of generations of lobstering families that they are good stewards of the ocean ecosystems essential to their livelihoods,” Portland attorney Thimi Mina, who is representing the lobstermen, said in a statement.
In early 2022, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission announced requirements for fishermen catching lobsters and crabs in federal waters off the coast of New England to use trackers by December 2023. The trackers collect the time and location of a fishing vessel once per minute while it is moving and every six hours when it is not moving. The technology has been provided for free through congressional funding, and the DMR said it would assist fishermen as they work to install and use the trackers.
With data from the trackers, the American Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will observe fishing activity, transit routes and patterns linked to popular fishing grounds – which state and federal agencies have historically struggled to quantify. That data, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said, would help identify the amount of lobster and crab stock in federal waters and interactions between protected marine species that could, in turn, inform best regulatory practices.'
In September 2023, the DMR announced it would be adopting and enforcing the commission’s regulation, which is required by federal statute. Lobstermen were concerned by this development and worked with the Sustainable Maine Fishing Foundation to raise concerns to DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher about privacy and the challenges of complying with the regulations.
Lobstermen can violate the regulation if they fish without the tracker (even when using their boats for purposes that aren’t related to lobstering), remove the device without written approval, insufficiently maintain the tracker for operation and tamper with the tracker.
“Each of these violations could occur intentionally, or unintentionally, and many could occur without interference by the vessel operators themselves,” the SMFF wrote to Keliher. “What if a fisherman is unaware his device is malfunctioning and therefore fails to notify MDMR? What if a fisherman is unable to repair the device prior to his subsequent fishing trip?”
This is the latest regulation, and subsequent lawsuit, in a drawn-out saga between federal regulators, the state’s marine agency and the fisheries over the conservation of the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
Federal regulators contend that traditional lobstering gear severely harms the right whale population, which NOAA estimates is dwindling in part due to entanglements. No right whale deaths have been conclusively linked to Maine’s lobster industry, and the last known entanglement in Maine was nearly two decades ago. But scientists have also emphasized that there hasn’t been enough gear marking to precisely nail down where a whale has been entangled.
NOAA and other regulatory agencies have mapped out plans to protect that right-whale population. Those contested regulations include new gear-marking mandates, a reduction in the number of vertical lines in the water, the insertion of weak points in rope, and a seasonal closure of a nearly 1,000-square-mile area off the Gulf of Maine.
The regulations would transform lobstering methods and fishermen fear they would gut their businesses and the lobster fishery at large. Some of these regulations have been challenged in court, delaying some rules from taking effect for similar judgement about adverse impacts on the fishery.
Unlike other legal challenges, though, the most recent lawsuit is focused on how these regulations infringe on the civil liberties of lobstermen.
The suit was filed with Maine’s U.S. District Court on behalf of lobstermen Frank Thompson of Vinalhaven; Joel Strout of Harrington, who is president of the Maine Lobstering Union; Jason Lord of Pemaquid; Christopher Smith of Jonesport; and Jack Cunningham of Bar Harbor. It contends that these trackers violate their rights, enshrined through the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments in the U.S. Constitution, because of near-constant geolocation tracking throughout the course of a day, even when vessels aren’t in use for lobstering purposes.
“There’s no industry that would impose these sorts of privacy intrusion on its members, none,” attorney Mina said in an interview.
The Fourth Amendment bars the government from unreasonable searches and seizures without probable cause and a warrant, while the Fourteenth Amendment bars the government from “depriving any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
The lawsuit states that the amendments extend to protection of a person’s privacy, based on previous case law, and that the “24/7 tracking requirement” constitutes an illegal search infringing on that reasonable right to privacy while “conducting business activities within federally regulated waters” and “their personal movements while in state-controlled waters.”
The plaintiffs are also concerned about the safety of their private information. The data, the state and federal agencies have promised, will remain confidential to conceal personally identifying information and other sensitive information. But the plaintiffs are dubious about how protected their information will be.
“There’s also the commercial trade secret issue. These fishermen these lobster fishermen in particular, jealously guard, the whereabouts and the techniques they use to place their traps,” Mina said. “This is directly correlated to their ability to make a living. What’s going to happen to this data? Who’s going to get this information?”
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s regulatory addendum outlines a process to protect the information, but Mina is concerned about intents in the addendum for the data to inform ” development of emerging ocean uses such as wind energy, aquaculture, and marine protected areas [that] may all create marine spatial planning challenges for the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries.”
The Sustainable Maine Fishing Foundation and five lobstermen are all in support of regulations that can conserve marine populations, Mina said.
“But we want … to try to work with [the regulators] to get some sort of a regulatory scheme here that both accommodates the need for science and data with the privacy rights of the participants,” Mina said.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission both declined to comment on the case as of Wednesday afternoon until officials had fully reviewed the lawsuit, which was filed late Tuesday night.
Maine lobstermen sue state over requirement to track boats
Federal and state regulators say the trackers will help them understand fishing patterns and protect right whales. Lobstermen say the devices create privacy concerns.Five lobstermen are suing the Maine Department of Marine Resources over a new regulation that requires tracking devices on boats that fish in federal waters, something they say violates their privacy rights.
The trackers had to be installed by Dec. 15 per a new federal regulation from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. According to the DMR, the trackers periodically monitor the locations of a lobstering or crabbing vessel to help identify fishing patterns, which are then used to help grow the fishing stock and better protect the endangered North American right whale population – a contentious issue in the fishing community.
But the lobstermen and other fishing groups believe the trackers pose serious privacy concerns that violate multiple U.S. constitutional amendments and are unfair to the fishermen’s personal and commercial interests.
“The Plaintiffs contend that minute-by-minute surveillance of Maine’s federally licensed lobster fleet is unconstitutional, unwarranted and unfair to Maine lobstermen, who have proven through the actions of generations of lobstering families that they are good stewards of the ocean ecosystems essential to their livelihoods,” Portland attorney Thimi Mina, who is representing the lobstermen, said in a statement.
In early 2022, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission announced requirements for fishermen catching lobsters and crabs in federal waters off the coast of New England to use trackers by December 2023. The trackers collect the time and location of a fishing vessel once per minute while it is moving and every six hours when it is not moving. The technology has been provided for free through congressional funding, and the DMR said it would assist fishermen as they work to install and use the trackers.
With data from the trackers, the American Atlantic Coastal Cooperative Statistics Program and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will observe fishing activity, transit routes and patterns linked to popular fishing grounds – which state and federal agencies have historically struggled to quantify. That data, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission said, would help identify the amount of lobster and crab stock in federal waters and interactions between protected marine species that could, in turn, inform best regulatory practices.'
In September 2023, the DMR announced it would be adopting and enforcing the commission’s regulation, which is required by federal statute. Lobstermen were concerned by this development and worked with the Sustainable Maine Fishing Foundation to raise concerns to DMR Commissioner Patrick Keliher about privacy and the challenges of complying with the regulations.
Lobstermen can violate the regulation if they fish without the tracker (even when using their boats for purposes that aren’t related to lobstering), remove the device without written approval, insufficiently maintain the tracker for operation and tamper with the tracker.
“Each of these violations could occur intentionally, or unintentionally, and many could occur without interference by the vessel operators themselves,” the SMFF wrote to Keliher. “What if a fisherman is unaware his device is malfunctioning and therefore fails to notify MDMR? What if a fisherman is unable to repair the device prior to his subsequent fishing trip?”
This is the latest regulation, and subsequent lawsuit, in a drawn-out saga between federal regulators, the state’s marine agency and the fisheries over the conservation of the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
Federal regulators contend that traditional lobstering gear severely harms the right whale population, which NOAA estimates is dwindling in part due to entanglements. No right whale deaths have been conclusively linked to Maine’s lobster industry, and the last known entanglement in Maine was nearly two decades ago. But scientists have also emphasized that there hasn’t been enough gear marking to precisely nail down where a whale has been entangled.
NOAA and other regulatory agencies have mapped out plans to protect that right-whale population. Those contested regulations include new gear-marking mandates, a reduction in the number of vertical lines in the water, the insertion of weak points in rope, and a seasonal closure of a nearly 1,000-square-mile area off the Gulf of Maine.
The regulations would transform lobstering methods and fishermen fear they would gut their businesses and the lobster fishery at large. Some of these regulations have been challenged in court, delaying some rules from taking effect for similar judgement about adverse impacts on the fishery.
Unlike other legal challenges, though, the most recent lawsuit is focused on how these regulations infringe on the civil liberties of lobstermen.
The suit was filed with Maine’s U.S. District Court on behalf of lobstermen Frank Thompson of Vinalhaven; Joel Strout of Harrington, who is president of the Maine Lobstering Union; Jason Lord of Pemaquid; Christopher Smith of Jonesport; and Jack Cunningham of Bar Harbor. It contends that these trackers violate their rights, enshrined through the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments in the U.S. Constitution, because of near-constant geolocation tracking throughout the course of a day, even when vessels aren’t in use for lobstering purposes.
“There’s no industry that would impose these sorts of privacy intrusion on its members, none,” attorney Mina said in an interview.
The Fourth Amendment bars the government from unreasonable searches and seizures without probable cause and a warrant, while the Fourteenth Amendment bars the government from “depriving any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
The lawsuit states that the amendments extend to protection of a person’s privacy, based on previous case law, and that the “24/7 tracking requirement” constitutes an illegal search infringing on that reasonable right to privacy while “conducting business activities within federally regulated waters” and “their personal movements while in state-controlled waters.”
The plaintiffs are also concerned about the safety of their private information. The data, the state and federal agencies have promised, will remain confidential to conceal personally identifying information and other sensitive information. But the plaintiffs are dubious about how protected their information will be.
“There’s also the commercial trade secret issue. These fishermen these lobster fishermen in particular, jealously guard, the whereabouts and the techniques they use to place their traps,” Mina said. “This is directly correlated to their ability to make a living. What’s going to happen to this data? Who’s going to get this information?”
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s regulatory addendum outlines a process to protect the information, but Mina is concerned about intents in the addendum for the data to inform ” development of emerging ocean uses such as wind energy, aquaculture, and marine protected areas [that] may all create marine spatial planning challenges for the lobster and Jonah crab fisheries.”
The Sustainable Maine Fishing Foundation and five lobstermen are all in support of regulations that can conserve marine populations, Mina said.
“But we want … to try to work with [the regulators] to get some sort of a regulatory scheme here that both accommodates the need for science and data with the privacy rights of the participants,” Mina said.
The Maine Department of Marine Resources and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission both declined to comment on the case as of Wednesday afternoon until officials had fully reviewed the lawsuit, which was filed late Tuesday night.
