The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a Maine lobsterman’s challenge to federal vessel tracking requirements, bringing an end to a years-long legal fight over whether the government can require fishermen to transmit their locations when their vessels are being used for personal purposes.
On Monday, the court denied Vinalhaven lobsterman Frank Rhompson’s petition seeking review of a lower court ruling that upheld the tracking requirement. The decision leaves the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in place.
At the center of the case is a requirement that federally permitted lobster vessels operate electronic tracking devices that transmit their locations while underway. Thompson sued Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Carl Wilson in 2024, arguing that the requirement amounted to an unreasonable search and violated his Fourth Amendment rights.
As National Fisherman previously reported, Thompson’s challenge focused particularly on the requirement that his privately owned vessel continue transmitting its location when it is underway but not being used for commercial fishing. For fishermen in Maine’s island communities, commercial vessels can also serve as transportation to the mainland for errands, appointments, and other personal needs.
A federal district court dismissed Thompson’s lawsuit, and the First Circuit upheld that decision in November 2025. Thompson then petitioned the Supreme Court, which considered the case after its Sept. 28 long conference.
Thompson’s attorney, Matthew Gilliam of Pacific Legal Foundation, said the court’s decision not to take the case does not resolve what the organization views as the underlying constitutional issue.
“Forcing lobstermen to carry a GPA tracker on their private boats and submit to around-the-clock surveillance as a condition of keeping their license remains a serious constitutional concern,” Gilliam said in a statement provided to the Maine Morning Star. “We are committed to fighting for Fourth Amendment protections from government overreach, and we will continue to pursue every lawful avenue to protect individual rights.”
Maine fisheries officials, meanwhile, have defended vessel tracking as an important tool for fisheries science, enforcement, and management. “It will inform the lobster stock assessment, enhance offshore enforcement and support better decision-making in a range of federal management contexts,” Wilson said in a statement reported by the Maine Morning Star.
The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), which filed an amicus brief supporting the tracking regulations, also welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision.
“New England’s lobster population has declined dangerously,” CLF Associate Attorney Sarah Shahabi said in a statement reported by the Maine Morning Star. “Tracking lobster boats provides the timely and accurate data that regulators need. This decision is a valuable step toward appropriately managing this iconic species.”
The Supreme Court’s denial means Thompson’s case will not receive further review from the nation’s highest court, leaving the lower-court ruling and the vessel-tracking requirement in place.
