June 5, 2023 — NOAA’s plans 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.