Court: Gulf fishermen can fight vessel monitors

Commercial Gulf of Mexico fishermen were emboldened Friday after an appeals court ruled that they can fight a federal requirement that all their boats have location tracking systems.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a federal judge’s ruling that the Gulf Fishermen’s Association had waited too long to challenge the government regulation. National Marine Fisheries Service officials had argued the fishermen needed to challenge the rule within 30 days of its publication in the Federal Register in August 2006.

But on Dec. 6, 2006 – a day before the rule was to take effect – the service postponed its implementation for three months. That reopened a 30-day window for the fisherman to challenge the requirement in court, according to the opinion issued Friday by the three-judge appeals panel. That means their appeal filed on Dec. 15, 2006, was valid.

“Hopefully, we’ll end up back in court here in Tampa,” association president Glen Brooks, who lives in Cortez, Fla., said in a telephone interview. “Our attorney thinks that if we can lay out the whole case before the judge, we’ve got a real good chance.”

The lawyer, Mike Mastry of St. Petersburg, Fla., did not immediately return a message seeking comment. But he has said it is likely the government will appeal the decision, which affects the group representing 300 commercial fishermen in Gulf waters from Florida to Texas.

The government lawyer, Stacy Person, representing the Department of Commerce, also did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of the Commerce Department, has said the vessel monitoring systems are needed to protect restricted waters from intrusion by fishing boats.

The fishermen, who had to install the monitors to keep their federal fishing permits, say they object mainly for privacy reasons.

“We were incensed that we were being singled out to be followed,” said Peter Bacle, owner of the Stock Island Lobster Co. in the Florida Keys. “We feel like there’s a very basic principle here of our civil liberties.”