October 19, 2026 — Vinalhaven lobsterman Frank Thompson says his fight against Maine’s vessel-tracking requirement is not over, despite the U.S. Supreme Court declining earlier this month to hear his Fourth Amendment challenge.
Thompson, a fifth-generation lobsterman who fishes from the island community of Vinalhaven, told Fox News that he intends to continue challenging a requirement that electronically tracks federally permitted lobster vessels, including when they are underway for personal use.
“I just told myself, I said, ‘Well, it ain’t over yet,’” Thompson told Fox after learning the Supreme Court had declined his petition.
As National Fisherman previously reported, the Supreme Court declined on Oct. 5 to review Thompson’s case, leaving intact a First Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the vessel-tracking requirement. Thompson had argued that requiring a GPS device aboard his privately owned vessel amounted to an unreasonable search in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
The case centered in part on the fact that tracking continues when a vessel is underway but is not being used for commercial fishing. That distinction is particularly important in Maine island communities, where fishing vessels can also serve as transportation to the mainland for errands, appointments, and other personal trips.