November 21, 2025 — The U.S. government can continue requiring America’s lobster fishing boats to use electronic tracking devices to collect data, a federal appeals court has ruled, denying claims by some in the industry that the monitoring amounts to unreasonable search and seizure.
Fishing regulators began requiring federally permitted lobstermen to install electronic tracking devices that transmit location data in late 2023. The data improves understanding of the lobster population and can inform future rules, authorities said.
The tracking devices transmit lobster boat locations using an onboard global positioning system and must be used whenever a vessel is in the water, including when it’s docked or being operated for personal use, court records state.
A group of lobster fishermen sued, claiming the tracking requirements are unconstitutional, but a federal district court rejected that claim and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston upheld the ruling Tuesday.