The plans of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to force fishermen to pay for their own surveillance hit a brick wall in 2023, and the Supreme Court could force more big changes to how the federal government keeps tabs on the state of U.S. fisheries.
While the agency has long relied on human observers and electronic tracking devices, many in the fishing industry who regard the monitoring as too expensive and an invasion of their privacy have sought relief in the courts — and so far this year, they’re winning.
NOAA suffered a major blow in February when a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Louisiana threw out a rule that would have required charter boats in the Gulf of Mexico to be equipped with electronic monitors to report fish catches. Fishermen complained that the devices would cost them as much as $3,000 per boat.
And the agency may be poised for an even bigger setback from the Supreme Court. Justices last month said they would take up a case that could decide whether NOAA has the legal authority to force New England herring fishermen to hire third-party contractors to monitor their fishing at a cost of up to $700 per day.
“This issue would have been a death knell for a lot of fishermen,” said Allen Walburn, a plaintiff in the Gulf of Mexico case who has run a charter fishing business in Naples, Fla., since 1978 and opposes NOAA’s plans.
As NOAA’s legal woes mount, the stakes are high for both the agency and the fishing industry, which is split on the issue. While critics accuse the agency of overreach, proponents say the monitoring is necessary and benefits everyone by allowing NOAA to more accurately track fish catches and preserve all species in the long run.