Crabbers sue US state of Washington over GPS surveillance of vessels

The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit public interest law firm, has sued the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) on behalf of the state's crabbers over its electronic monitoring of Dungeness crab fishing vessels, arguing that the program is unconstitutional.“The desire of agencies to always know a regulated party’s location is not driven by legitimate regulatory needs,” NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel John Vecchione said in a statement. “We need this suit to remind the agency that our constitutions – state and federal – don’t allow that.”The U.S. state of Washington has relied on paper logbooks to track Dungeness crab harvesters’ fishing location since 2008, but in 2024, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission implemented a new electronic monitoring program.The new program required harvesters to equip their vessels with state-approved electronic monitoring devices, which must be powered at all times – even when moored in ...