re: HR 391 (Water Access Rights) Passes 5-3 in committee

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I’m from NELA so I really do not know the lay of land/water south of I-10. But how can 80% of costal waterways be deemed private? Seems like it’s a huge black eye on the state. I also own land and understand landowners concerns as well. Is there no happy medium? Seems like the public have been fishing these water for years, why the change now? Also why is billions of both federal/state dollars being used to restore land that is then reverted to the land owner? Why not make the landowners foot that bill if they want to privatize a public resource? So many questions.

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A few good questions and a few stinkers. It boils down to land owners exercising their right to restrict access to private property. Most of what is private had no water on it when it was sold. It makes a little bit of sense to some people and none to others.

Meanwhile you should just go fishing. If someone asks you to leave, just apologize and leave. Do the best you can, try to keep an eye out for duck blinds, and enjoy the 800k acres of public land. It's impossible not to trespass in some places but it's not impossible to avoid trouble.