MAINE PUBLIC • November 28, 2025
A federal appeals court has upheld the Maine Department of Marine Resource's right to continue monitoring the movements of federally-permitted lobster boats using electronic vessel tracking devices. According to the DMR, the collection of this spatial data helps regulators improve their understanding of fishing effort in federal waters and make better management decisions and enforcement actions. Those decisions are becoming increasingly complex in the face of a changing lobster stock, the need to protect endangered whales, and emerging ocean uses, like offshore wind development.