Charter vessel operators in the Gulf of Mexico are suing federal regulators for allegedly violating their constitutional rights through a fisheries-monitoring program that mandates 24-hour electronic surveillance of the boats.
The nonprofit New Civil Liberties Alliance helped to file the class action lawsuit in the Eastern District of Louisiana against officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and related agencies. The plaintiffs are businesses that take customers fishing and sightseeing.