The U.S. Supreme Court declined on October 5 to hear a challenge brought by Maine lobster fisherman Frank Thompson against mandatory electronic boat tracking. Maine requires federally permitted lobster fishermen to install GPS devices to collect information for fisheries management. After losing at the appellate level, Thompson petitioned the Supreme Court, arguing that the requirement constituted an unreasonable search and seizure. Its refusal to hear the case leaves the requirement intact, allowing approximately 1,200 federally permitted Maine lobster fishermen to be tracked, according to his legal representatives.
Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented Thompson, maintained that the broader dispute over whether industry regulations can circumvent Fourth Amendment protections remains unresolved. Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Carl Wilson, however, said the data would support lobster population assessments, offshore enforcement, and federal management decisions. Environmental organizations welcomed the outcome: some advocate closer surveillance to protect rare North Atlantic right whales from entanglement in fishing gear, while others emphasize declining lobster populations. Conservation Law Foundation associate attorney Sarah Shahabi said timely, accurate tracking information supports appropriate management.
Lobster fishing is central to Maine’s history and culture, and the state receives most of the U.S. lobster catch, whose annual dockside value often exceeds $500 million. The Supreme Court’s action was one of two federal court outcomes against lobster fishermen that month. The Boston-based First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled against fishing businesses and trade organizations that had brought a defamation suit against California’s Monterey Bay Aquarium over its Seafood Watch program’s decision to put American and Canadian lobster on a red list advising consumers against eating it.
