NCLA Sues Washington State Again, Seeking to Halt 24-Hour Electronic Monitoring of Dungeness Crab Boats

The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), representing Dungeness crab fishermen, has asked the Washington State Superior Court to rule immediately against the state and halt its 24-hour electronic monitoring program. The NCLA made the request in documents filed on November 2, and a hearing in the case is scheduled for December 15.

"Neither the state nor the federal constitution provides a 'fishing' exception to an unlawful 24-hour surveillance regime, and we hope this regime will be brought to an end as soon as possible," NCLA senior litigation counsel John Vecchione said in a statement.

Washington State, located in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, had previously used paper logs to record the locations of Dungeness crab vessels. In 2024, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission launched an electronic monitoring program requiring commercial Dungeness crab harvesters to purchase state-approved monitoring equipment at their own expense, with the equipment required to be powered on at all times and to continuously transmit location information for each vessel.

The NCLA filed suit in 2024 on behalf of three local captains—Sara Franey, Brent Young and Mark Young—arguing that the program infringed on the crabbers' rights. The legal group said captains often use their vessels for personal reasons, and that the equipment effectively tracks crabbers without a warrant even when they are not engaged in crabbing.

In its latest filing, the NCLA asked the Washington State Superior Court for a declaratory judgment under the state's Administrative Procedure Act. That law authorizes courts to invalidate rules that violate constitutional provisions, exceed an agency's authority, or are "arbitrary and capricious." The NCLA argues that the electronic monitoring rule fails on all three grounds.

"First, tracking all regulated vessels whenever they navigate, rather than when they are actually fishing for crab by pulling and setting pots, is arbitrary and capricious for multiple reasons, including that it is insufficient to support any legitimate purpose revealed in the administrative record. Second, it exceeds the authority the legislature granted to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, which only allows the agency to mandate equipment for the taking of wildlife. Third, it constitutes an unreasonable search of regulated vessels under both the U.S. Constitution and the Washington State Constitution," the NCLA said in its November 2 filing.

The filing follows a similar summary judgment request the NCLA made in August, arguing that the electronic monitoring rule violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The NCLA has also challenged other 24-hour electronic monitoring practices for commercial fishing vessels. In 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in the NCLA's favor, halting a 24-hour GPS monitoring requirement in a case in which the NCLA brought a class action on behalf of 1,300 charter boat owners. The NCLA has also been involved in efforts to block an East Coast rule requiring commercial fishermen to pay out of pocket for at-sea observers.

In a separate case, the U.S. Supreme Court in October declined to hear a challenge to a Maine rule requiring 24-hour GPS monitoring of lobster boats.