Public Notice Prior to Barricading Coastal Waterways

WHEREAS, it is the public’s understanding that it has the right of access on the state’s natural, navigable waterways including lakes, rivers and streams that were capable of supporting navigation for commercial purposes when Louisiana became a state in 1812, including all such bays and bayous along the coast that are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide, and

WHEREAS, there have been numerous recent incidences where fishermen and anglers have been restricted, or attempts have been made to reštrict them, from navigating and/or fishing on waters that have traditionally been available for public use by persons claiming that the subject waters were privately owned, and

WHEREAS, this trend is likely to continue as more citizens engage in fishing and boating and demand arises for controlled-access fishing privileges, and

WHEREAS, it is reasonable to expect that those waters traditionally used by the public upon which access is planned to be denied by the claimed owner or lessee be designated and noticed by the claimed owner or lessee prior to gating or otherwise blocking access in order to inform the public that these areas may no longer be available to fish or navigate.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Louisiana Wildlife Federation urges that the state Coastal Zone Management Program and the Public Land Administrator with the state Attorney General’s Office be authorized and directed to require that all gates and barricades that may possibly block commerce, trade and transportation to waters previously used by the public to navigate or fish be noticed through the coastal use permit process or by some other appropriate and economical means so that the users of Louisiana’s waterways can be informed of what to expect when they take to our state’s coastal waters.

Adopted by the Louisiana Wildlife Federation in convention assembled, March 12, 2000 in Alexandria, Louisiana.

Details
Resolution #:10C, 2000
Date Proposed:03/12/2000
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