re: Private vs public water in tidal navigable waterways

Tidal is just the most difficult to explain, and people want to treat it differently for some reason.

What Alex and Mung, who are both lawyers I believe, simply point out is what has been the law in Louisiana for over 200 years. You don't have to like it, but it is the law, and very well settled law. If you don't like it, take it to the legislature, but good luck with trying to divest individuals and corporations of their private property without the payment of compensation to the fullest extent of their loss. And since the water bottom is private property, what gives the public the right to trespass upon private property? The fact that the water is navigable in fact today and subject to the ebb and flow of the tides is of no consideration in Louisiana. The Phillips case was a US Supreme Court Case that interpreted the law of the State of Mississippi. It has no effect in Louisiana. To catch the fish that belongs to the public? Well, do you have a right to go upon your neighbors property to shoot a deer or rabbit that also belong to the public? Of course not, and the concept is the same. Again, you may not like it, but it is the law.