Cases
Franey, Young and Young v. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
CASE SUMMARY
Local crab fishing boat Captains Sarah Franey, Brent Young and Mark Young use their boats not only to catch Dungeness crab, but also for personal pursuits like transportation and sightseeing. Under the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Electronic Monitoring Program, it can track their movements during every voyage,whether they are crabbing or not. The program allows the Department to send this information to law enforcement and other agencies without a warrant. It also takes hard-earned money out of the crab fishermen’s pockets by requiring them to pay for the electronic monitoring systems on their boats, despite the program failing to help the government track crab populations or protect wildlife more effectively than it already does.
By forcing crab fishermen to send GPS data on their movements and location history to a government agency, the Department violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and its Washington State counterpart, which prohibit unreasonable and warrantless searches. The Department’s seizure of this property without compensation also defies the Fifth Amendment and the corresponding Washington State law. Finally, the Washington Wildlife Code does not give the Department authority to use the threat of criminal penalties to enforce the arbitrary and capricious Electronic Monitoring Program.
