How the federal government is forcing states to spy on lobstermen |
How the federal government is forcing states to spy on lobstermen
The federal government is forcing constant, warrantless GPS surveillance on thousands of small fishing businesses — and threatening their livelihoods if fishermen or state governments object.
A federal regulation requires ten East Coast states to adopt and enforce an electronic tracking requirement for federally permitted lobster vessels. Compliant tracking units must transmit location data to the government at all times, including when the vessel is moored or being operated for personal use. That means lobstermen must forfeit their privacy and submit to physical trespass not just while working but even when their boat is tied to the dock or being used on a family outing.
That includes fifth-generation lobstermen like Frank Thompson. For nearly six decades, Thompson has been catching lobsters off the coast of Vinalhaven, Maine. He and his wife, Jean, along with their two sons, own the Fox Island Lobster Company, LLC, a lobster-fishing business based in Vinalhaven. The Thompson family’s livelihood is linked to the lobster fishing industry.
Now, Thompson has to install GPS tracking devices on his lobster boats and subject himself to continuous government surveillance or else lose his federal lobster permit. This invasion is one of a series of complex federal and state regulations that hamper Thompson’s business. With Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) representing him, Thompson is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down this blatant violation of his rights.
The Fourth Amendment protects Americans against unreasonable, warrantless searches by the government. In United States v. Jones, the Supreme Court unanimously held that installing a GPS tracking device on a vehicle constitutes a “search” under the Fourth Amendment. In Jonesand other landmark cases, the court warned that location tracking is uniquely invasive and worthy of legal scrutiny because it can reveal the intimate, private details of a person’s life not meant for the state’s prying eyes.
The law is clear that, at the very least, GPS tracking of a person’s vehicle warrants the highest constitutional scrutiny. So why are states subjecting more than 3,000 federally permitted lobster vessels to continuous monitoring? A recent report by Pacific Legal Foundation addresses this question, finding that the federal government can shut down noncompliant states’ fisheries, effectively bullying them into adopting a constitutionally suspect regulation.
If states fail to adopt and enforce the surveillance regime, the federal government can impose a fishing moratorium — barring, by force of federal power, all targeting and landing of American lobster in the disobedient state’s waters. The government has declared 11 fishing moratoria for noncompliance with other regulations since 1995. Though all states hurriedly complied prior to the respective mortarium’s scheduled effective date, the federal government is clearly not shy about using such a threat to force states into compliance with its dictates.
To put it bluntly, a fishing moratorium — especially on a globally important species like American lobster — is a big deal. The annual ex-vessel revenue generated by lobster fishing in the ten impacted states totaled more than $718 million. But that total only includes the value of lobster sales directly from fishing vessels, not downstream economic effects — like those generated by processing plants, distributors and restaurants. A 2023 study estimated that Maine’s lobster distribution supply chain contributed almost $1 billion and over 6,500 jobs to the state’s annual economy.
That places states into a political and moral predicament: either rebel, killing a portion of their economy and risking a protracted legal battle with the federal government, or submit, forcing their citizens into an unconstitutional surveillance regime.
Eight of the ten impacted states have clearly chosen the latter, adopting compliant tracking requirements into their state codes. Consequently, lobstermen in these states are subject to state-level penalties should they refuse to submit their daily whereabouts to government bureaucrats. Punishments could include suspension of one’s fishing license, fines of thousands of dollars, and even imprisonment for up to two and a half years under some states’ general fishery penalties.
The government is sacrificing workers’ constitutional rights for nothing more than to “improve the information available to fishery managers and stock assessment scientists.” Once constant surveillance becomes the price of earning a living, privacy ceases to be a right for all Americans and becomes a conditional privilege for those who can afford it.
Mitchell Scacchi is the strategic research manager for the separation of powers at Pacific Legal Foundation. Tobias Russell is a strategic research associate at PLF.
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