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Maine Lobsterman Appeals Challenge of 24/7 Vessel Tracking to US Supreme Court
['Captain Dick F V Old Scow', 'Pork Bellying', 'Lowell L Morse']
The Maine Wire
Maine lobsterman Frank Thompson has asked the United States Supreme Court to weigh in on his challenge of a regulation requiring that tracking devices on lobstering vessels be operated 24/7 while in the water.
The mandated devices identify a vessel’s location every sixty seconds while in motion and once every six hours when stationary.
Unlike the minute-by-minute data shared by the tracking devices, the information collected as part of the pilot program was far less specific, indicating only the generalized area in which a given trip was conducted.
It was suggested at the time that the more granular-level data collected by the tracking devices would be a necessary upgrade, but the lobstermen argued otherwise.
[RELATED: Maine Lobstermen Lose Legal Fight As Court Upholds Federal Boat-Tracking Regulation]The Supreme Court has distributed this case for conference in late September of this year, as indicated on the case’s official docket.