WASHINGTON, DC, Feb. 23, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has won a landmark victory for charter boat fishermen across the Gulf of Mexico put aside a controversial one last rule issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) which mandates 24-hour GPS tracking of recreational charter boat fishing vessels and reporting of sensitive economic data. As Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod wrote, “By promulgating this ordinance, the Government has committed several independent violations of the Administrative Procedures Act and very likely violated the Fourth Amendment.” The ruling is serious for many reasons, including because the Government sought to claim that charter boat fishing is a “strictly regulated industry” not covered by the Fourth Amendment.

NCLA is representing more than 1,300 federally licensed charter boat owners in class action lawsuit, Mexican Gulf Fishing Company v US Department of Commerce. The Final Rule required that each charter vessel “must be equipped with NMFS-approved hardware and software with a minimum ability to archive GPS locations.” The rule would have required charter boats to install an NMFS-approved Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) — an “anchor bracelet” — onboard that continuously transmits the boat’s GPS location to the NMFS, regardless of whether the boat is at sea Charter fishing is used for travel or for something else. Charter boat operators “are responsible for purchasing the VMS units,” which the Final Rule estimates would cost over $3,000 plus a monthly service fee of $40 to $75. The NCLA argued that not only was this 24-hour GPS surveillance unnecessary and overly onerous, but also that this requirement violated the Fourth Amendment by searching without probable cause or warrant, which is required by the Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) and is arbitrary and unpredictable in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (VwfG). The NCLA also complained that the rule restricted reporting of economic…