December 4, 2023 — There are enough federally permitted charterboat operations in Louisiana to warrant attention from the latest ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
The ruling turns aside a U.S. Department of Commerce regulation which demanded these charterboat operators install a constant (24-hour) GPS tracking device on their vessels and report what opponents considered to be “confidential economic data” to the National Marine Fisheries Service.
The New Civil Liberties Alliance took up the cause for the Mexican Gulf Fishing Company, et al. (meaning more than 1,300 federally permitted charterboat operations) in a plea to the courts to have the requirement declared unconstitutional on a violation of the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights.