The state’s highest court today ruled against a Camden man who challenged a state law in 2005, by taking his Sea Doo personal watercraft on a lake where that activity was banned.

Mark Haskell argued that it's unfair for some watercraft to be banned, while others continue to be allowed without restrictions.

State law allows towns to ban personal watercraft, by a majority vote of the residents. The machines are already not allowed on about 60 lakes and ponds in populated areas of Maine, and hundreds more in unorganized territories controlled by the state.

Haskell took his Sea Doo out on Lake St. George in Liberty. He said there was no proof that personal watercraft are more hazardous, or more of a nuisance, than other boats and machines used on lakes and ponds.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that such comparisons don't matter, as long as the Legislature has a rational basis for allowing the bans. The state law passes that test, the justices found.

“Given the unique characteristics of personalized watercraft, their size, speed and maneuverability, the Legislature could rationally determine that they pose a unique risk to others on great ponds,” Justice Donald Alexander wrote in the unanimous decision.