Electronic Tracker Legal Case Hits Wall at Supreme Court

October 5 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Vinalhaven lobsterman Frank Thompson’s case against the Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and the requirement to have electronic tracking devices on lobster boats.

Thompson filed a federal lawsuit against DMR in 2024, arguing that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) requirement to have an electronic tracker on whenever his boat was in operation was unconstitutional. The regulation is part of the ASMFC’s lobster management plan, which all lobstering states must implement. The ASMFC passed the regulation in order to gather more precise spatial and seasonal data on lobster fishing effort in federal waters.

Thompson asserted that requiring an electronic tracking device aboard his privately owned vessel amounted to an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. His challenge focused particularly on the requirement that the vessel continue transmitting its location while underway, including when it is being used for personal reasons.

A federal district court and then appeals court denied his claim last year. It found that there was legal precedent allowing warrantless searches in certain “closely regulated industries.” With support from the Pacific Legal Foundation, Thompson appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case means the lower court’s ruling stays in place. The Supreme Court did reflect on Thompson’s Fourth Amendment argument. He contends that treating the lobster fishery “closely regulated industry” should not give the government authority to continuously track a fisherman’s location when he is not working.

For Thompson, however, the issue remains one of privacy. “People just don’t think before they react to it,” he told FoxNews shortly after the Court’s decision. “All these rules and regulations and it’s taking away a lifestyle of generations of freedom.”