Saving Seafood

Lobster boats must keep using tracking devices for government observation, court rules

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.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

First Circuit unbothered by Maine’s lobster boat snooping

July 29, 2025 — Maine’s plan to install GPS tracking devices on all lobster boats and monitor their exact location at all times went before the First Circuit Monday, but the court seemed unconcerned that this could be an invasion of the fishermen’s privacy.

“It makes sense to me,” U.S. Circuit Judge Seth Aframe said at oral argument.

The devices are required on all commercial lobster boats and record the boats’ location every minute at sea and every six hours on shore. They can’t be turned off, and they record all activity, even if the boat is being used for recreational or other non-commercial purposes. They’re Bluetooth-compatible and can collect audio information, although the state denies that it’s secretly recording anyone’s conversations.

Five lobstermen challenged the rule in court, claiming it was an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. A trial judge upheld the Maine rule under existing precedent for administrative searches but found the issue so disturbing that he took the unusual step of recommending an appeal to the First Circuit.

The mariners immediately ran into choppy seas before the three-judge panel, however, as the judges credited the state’s claim that it needed to track lobster stocks and protect against interference with whales.

“The lobster stock is changing dramatically,” explained Sean Donahue of Donahue, Goldberg & Herzog in Washington, D.C., representing the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. “In New York, the catch is 3% of what it was 20 years earlier. In Maine, there’s a clear movement toward colder waters. The data require careful assessment, and this is critical.”

Read the full article at the Courthouse News Service

Where Do Untraceable Fishing Fleets Go?

July 24, 2025 — For centuries, the oceans have been a notoriously lawless place. And today’s industrial fishing vessels can sometimes be sneaky, turning off public tracking devices for months at a time or altering their signals to give a false location.

Recent advancements in satellite technology have made it possible to detect more of these ships that may be trying to hide. Known as “dark vessels,” they make up at least 70 percent of all fishing fleets on the ocean.

Two research groups used this data, provided by the nonprofit Global Fishing Watch, to track truant ships across millions of kilometers of so-called marine protected areas, zones officially designated by countries as part of international goals to protect 30 percent of oceans by 2030.

Their studies, published Thursday in Science, offer the first answers to a longstanding question: Do these protections work?

Read the full article at The New York Times

We tracked illegal fishing in marine protected areas – satellites and AI show most bans are respected, and could help enforce future ones

July 24, 2025 — Marine protected areas cover more than 8% of the world’s oceans today, but they can get a bad rap as being protected on paper only.

While the name invokes safe havens for fish, whales and other sea life, these areas can be hard to monitor. High-profile violations, such as recent fishing fleet incursions near the Galapagos Islands and ships that “go dark” by turning off their tracking devices, have fueled concerns about just how much poaching is going undetected.

But some protected areas are successfully keeping illegal fishing out.

In a new global study using satellite technology that can track large ships even if they turn off their tracking systems, my colleagues and I found that marine protected areas where industrial fishing is fully banned are largely succeeding at preventing poaching.

What marine protected areas aim to save

Picture a sea turtle gliding by as striped butterfly fish weave through coral branches. Or the deep blue of the open ocean, where tuna flash like silver and seabirds wheel overhead.

These habitats, where fish and other marine life breed and feed, are the treasures that marine protected areas aim to protect.

A major threat to these ecosystems is industrial fishing.

These vessels can operate worldwide and stay at sea for years at a time with visits from refrigerated cargo ships that ferry their catch to port. China has an extensive global fleet of ships that operate as far away as the coast of South America and other regions.

The global industrial fishing fleet – nearly half a million vessels – hauls in about 100 million metric tons of seafood each year. That’s about a fivefold increase since 1950, though it has been close to flat for the past 30 years. Today, more than one-third of commercial fish species are overfished, exceeding what population growth can replenish.

When well designed and enforced, marine protected areas can help to restore fish populations and marine habitats. My previous work shows they can even benefit nearby fisheries because the fish spill over into surrounding areas.

That’s why expanding marine protected areas is a cornerstone of international conservation policy. Nearly every country has pledged to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030.

Read the full article at The Conservation

REMINDER: ASMFC American Lobster Management Board to Meet March 31 to Consider Final Action on Draft Addendum XXIX: Electronic Vessel Tracking in the Federal American Lobster and Jonah Crab Fisheries

March 28, 2022 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

As a reminder, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Management Board will meet via webinar this Thursday, March 31st from 1 – 3:30 PM. At this meeting, the Board will consider final approval of American Lobster Draft Addendum XXIX and Jonah Crab Draft Addendum IV. The Draft Addenda consider implementing electronic vessel tracking requirements in the federal American lobster and Jonah crab fisheries. The draft agenda and meeting materials are available at http://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/AmLobsterBoard_March2022/AmLobsterBoardMaterials_March2022.pdf. 

To register for the webinar go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3605881790361602063 (Webinar ID 951-453-683). If you are joining the webinar but will not be using VoIP, you can also call in at +1 (562) 247-8422. A PIN will be provided to you after joining the webinar; see webinar instructions for details on how to receive the PIN as well as how to navigate the webinar. For those who will not be joining the webinar but would like to listen in to the audio portion only, you can do so by dialing +1 (562) 247-8422, access code 706-332-029. The webinar will begin 30 minutes prior to the meeting to allow Board members and other participants to check their webinar connectivity and audio. If you are experiencing issues with either, please contact Chris Jacobs at 703.842.0790.

The webinar will allow registrants to listen to the Board’s deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur.  The Board will provide the public the opportunity to bring matters of concern to the Board’s attention at the start of the meeting. The Board Chair will ask members of the public to raise their hands to let the chair know they would like to speak. Depending upon the number of commenters, the Board Chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak. 

For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, Senior FMP Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org. 

 

Court: Feds can require tracking of charter fishing boats

March 1, 2022 — A federal judge on Monday rejected a lawsuit filed by Gulf of Mexico charter fishing boat operators opposed to federal regulations that include a requirement that they affix tracking equipment to their vessels.

U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan ruled Monday in favor of the National Marine Fisheries Service. The devices will help make sure logbooks are correct and that data on catches are accurately reported, the agency said in court records.

Morgan rejected the boat operators’ arguments that permanent tracking amounts to a violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Read the full story at AP News

ASMFC American Lobster Management Board to Meet February 22 to Consider Final Action on Draft Addendum XXIX: Electronic Vessel Tracking in the Federal American Lobster and Jonah Crab Fisheries

February 2, 2022 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s American Lobster Management Board will meet via webinar on February 22nd from 1 – 3:30 PM. The purpose of the meeting is to review submitted public comment on Draft Addendum XXIX: Electronic Vessel Tracking in the Federal American Lobster and Jonah Crab Fisheries and consider final approval of the Addendum. The Draft Agenda is available athttp://www.asmfc.org/files/Meetings/AmLobsterBoardFeb2022/AmLobsterBoardAgenda_Feb2022.pdf .Meeting materials will be posted to http://www.asmfc.org/calendar/2/2022/American-Lobster-Management-Board-/1886 by February 8th.

To register for the webinar go to https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2930590334961190923 (Webinar ID 845-804-555). If you are joining the webinar but will not be using VoIP, you can also call in at +1 (562) 247-8422. A PIN will be provided to you after joining the webinar; see webinar instructions for details on how to receive the PIN as well as how to navigate the webinar. For those who will not be joining the webinar but would like to listen in to the audio portion only, you can do so by dialing +1 (562) 247-8422, access code 538-513-755.

The webinar will allow registrants to listen to the Board’s deliberations and view presentations and motions as they occur.  The Board will provide the public the opportunity to bring matters of concern to the Board’s attention at the start of the meeting. The Board Chair will ask members of the public to raise their hands to let the chair know they would like to speak. Depending upon the number of commenters, the Board Chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.

Public Comment Guidelines

With the intent of developing policies in the Commission’s procedures for public participation that result in a fair opportunity for public input, the ISFMP Policy Board has approved the following guidelines for use at management board meetings:

For issues that are not on the agenda, management boards will continue to provide opportunity to the public to bring matters of concern to the board’s attention at the start of each board meeting. Board chairs will ask members of the public to raise their hands to let the chair know they would like to speak. Depending upon the number of commenters, the board chair will decide how to allocate the available time on the agenda (typically 10 minutes) to the number of people who want to speak.

For topics that are on the agenda, but have not gone out for public comment, board chairs will provide limited opportunity for comment, taking into account the time allotted on the agenda for the topic. Chairs will have flexibility in deciding how to allocate comment opportunities; this could include hearing one comment in favor and one in opposition until the chair is satisfied further comment will not provide additional insight to the board.

For agenda action items that have already gone out for public comment, it is the Policy Board’s intent to end the occasional practice of allowing extensive and lengthy public comments. Currently, board chairs have the discretion to decide what public comment to allow in these circumstances.

In addition, the following timeline has been established for the submission of written comment for issues for which the Commission has NOT established a specific public comment period (i.e., in response to proposed management action)

· Comments received by 5 PM on Monday, February 15 will be included in the supplemental materials.

The submitted comments must clearly indicate the commenter’s expectation from the ASMFC staff regarding distribution.  As with other public comment, it will be accepted via mail, fax, and email.

For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, Senior FMP Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org.