Coming soon to a port near you? A group of charter fishing boat operators in the Gulf of Mexico who oppose federal regulations which required that they affix tracking equipment to their vessels have taken their case to a federal appeals court. Earlier this year, a U.S. District Judge in New Orleans, LA upheld the federal regulations, rejecting the charter operators’ lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The fisheries service says the devices will help make sure logbooks are correct and that data on catches are accurately reported, the agency said in court records. The operators on the other hand argue that permanent tracking amounts to a violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.
According to the Associated Press, the Louisiana judge’s ruling noted that the fisheries service has tracked commercial vessels for years and said the information being collected on charter boat operators is limited in scope and that it is gathered at regular intervals — not like an unannounced search.
The original suit was filed in 2020 by a group of charter operators from Louisiana and Florida. Hoping to revive the suit, the operators went to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals though no dates have yet been set for filing of briefs or arguments.
