A December 5 ruling against a New Bedford, Mass., - based fishing vessel and its captain was the first federal fisheries prosecution based exclusively on vessel-tracking data gathered by the satellite-based Vessel Monitoring System, reported the National Marine Fisheries Service, an agency of the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. U.S. Coast Guard Administrative Law Judge Edwin M. Bladen assessed a $250,000 fine and ordered the permanent revocation of the federal fishing permit of the fishing vessel Independence, owned by Lobsters, Inc., and the federal vessel operator permit of its captain, Lawrence M. Yacubian, for repeatedly entering an area closed to fishing.