Court Ruling Effects River Boaters

Issue Date: 9/13/2006, Posted On: 9/13/2006

Court ruling makes boating illegal in much of U.S.

The Marine Retailers Association of America is alerting its dealer members to a court ruling that some say could have serious consequences for boating.

Judge Robert G. James of the U.S. District Court, Western Division of Louisiana, has declared it is a criminal trespass for the public to boat, fish or hunt on the Mississippi River and other navigable waters of the country.

“Even though this action seems like a horrible pre-April Fools’ joke, it is very serious,” said MRAA president Phil Keeter, in a statement. “Because essentially all the waters and waterways of our country are considered navigable in the U.S. law, this ruling declares recreational boating, water skiing, fishing, waterfowl hunting and fishing tournaments – except if conducted in a navigable shipping channel — to be illegal and the public subject to jail sentences for recreating with their families.”

In addition, the judge held that federal law grants exclusive and private control over the waters of the river, outside the main shipping channel, to riparian landowners. The shallows of the navigable waters are no longer open to the public, the MRAA reports, adding, “Boating has now become illegal in most of our country.”

In the Aug. 29 decision, Judge James rejected the findings of the magistrate judge who found earlier that the public had the right under federal law and Louisiana law to navigate, boat, fish and hunt on the waters of the Mississippi River up the normal high-water line of the river.

In that ruling, MRAA says Magistrate Judge James Kirk relied on long-established federal principles of navigation entitling “the public to the reasonable use of navigable waters for all legitimate purposes of travel or transportation, for boating, sailing for pleasure, as well as for carrying persons or property for hire, and in any kind of watercraft, the use of which is consistent with others also enjoying the right possessed in common.”

“MRAA is working with the Coast Guard, state boating law administrators, and NMMA … to fight this onerous ruling,” said MRAA chairman Glenn Mazzella, in a statement.

HUH??

That seems a little strange.

Does this mean the Upper and Lower Red Lakes are owned by the federal Government and not the bands.

What brought this on? Did Peta pay this guy to do this or what? Why would something like this be brought to court, whats the story behind this ? Is this a joke?

I just found this a little ironic. Look directly under Kevin’s post…

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Kevin Turner – RiverPro Boats
Now you can go anywhere the fish can go!

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I just had to point that out.

I don’t really think I’m going to stop fishing. I have a hard time believing that anyone will enforce this.

Good thing I didn’t sell my chest-waders.

Completely un-enforceable, if this is true it will be over-ruled shortly….I wouldn’t worry about this ruling fellas, in-fact I wouldn’t worry about it if doesn’t get over-turned….they can’t arrest us all! Political suicide to even try!

I have to wonder what that judge was thinking?

Wow that judge must have a brain tumor. Does he not understand what kind of revenue all those things bring to a state?

His wife must have left him for a river fisherman?

And I suppose the will want my guns next. All I can say is try—Just try.

That is about all i say to that!
I doubt that will get enforced. When does it go into effect? I say a protest would work there are a lot of boats between us all. In all seriousness I doubt it will stick!

Hmmmmmm….

Judge Robert G. James
P. O. Drawer 3107
Monroe, LA 71210
318-322-6230

http://www.lawd.uscourts.gov/information/chambers/chambers.html#district

I wonder if he likes mail

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I have to wonder what that judge was thinking?

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I just wonder what the Judge was smoking and where we all can get some!!!

Well I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. And try to keep me off my river. Just try

here is a little tid bit that might intrest the ones that don’t think this is something to think about.

Being from Louisiana this is all over the Louisiana fishin forums here .Its true he did rule and we are having big troubles with land and navagational water rights down here . Seems the CCA and other big touurnaments wont take sides either to help out anglers .Everyone is neutral but the land owners and the fisherman .Then this ruling what was He thinking ? Anyways where I fish in the intercoastal ther is posted signs all over the place .I just ignore them if the water flows in and out of it soo do I

Where guys really get screwed is in situation like Harold Allen in the 2003(I think) classic. He had a good area and was in the top 3 after day 2 but got chased out of the area he was fishing on the final day by the land owner. Come to think of it, not withstanding that the delta is an awesome fishery it would suck to fish there because of all the hicks down south. Harold got chased out by some irate land owner, Gary Klein got buzzed and splashed in the canals by some stupid air boaters, and he also had some idiot fire a shotgun over the bow of his boat.

first i would like you to know, i have lots of freinds in louisiana. and do not like the way you talk of them. i can tell you a lot of stories of people in minnesota, and i have lived here all my life. just your post tells alot about your manors. i’ve been shot at by deer hunters, by duck hunters. and buddy i have been shot. so you don’t want to go name calling.

Lighten up guys. The court’s descision is rediculous and that’s the point of the thread. Please stick to it or I’ll delete your posts.

I didn’t mean to offend anyone by my last post. Just making a general observation about past tournaments.

Why do people by land on floodplains? I think if your land is covered by water some of the time and then that areais connected to public waters, your poo out of luck. It comes with the territory so to speak.

Kind of like the people in New Orleans or that were flooded when the Mississippi went over it’s bank in Fargo and Iowa. They build on a flod plain and then expect everyone else (The Government)to bail them out, pun intended.

Is this true?

I have heard that it is legit to camp on ‘private’ land that is adjacent to the river if the land that you are camping on can be submerged during NORMAL high water periods.

Any truth behind that?

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I have heard that it is legit to camp on ‘private’ land that is adjacent to the river if the land that you are camping on can be submerged during NORMAL high water periods.

Any truth behind that?

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I hope not. That to me doesn’t seem fair to land owners.

Why can’t people be like the guy I met up in Rockford. I was fishing on what I didn’t know was his land. He came down and just asked me to move my truck to a safer location and to make sure I cleaned up after myself. I felt bad, but he reassured me it was ok. He even told me were to fish.

In minnesota it would be legal camp, fish, drink beer, etc. on river shoreline that would be considered private if the water is low. Waterfront property owners in MN only own up to the high water mark. anything below that is public.

That’s what I had heard. And I do like to fish, camp, drink, and drink beer etc. in such places!!!

Our county is having a real tough time with people calling in saying someone is trespassing. The people are actually walking or park their boat on the shore. The difficult thing is where the “high water mark” is…no judge will give us a ruling on it.

It comes down to some simple reasons with some really hard answers.

Situation:Private lake that is not accessible to the public. Mississippi floods a 1/2 mile over private property and now there is water from the river to the private lake. Every year the same set of anglers know that the water floods to this private lake. So they race down there and get onto this pivate lake.
::Note the private lake is a fisher rearing pond::

Now the private land owner is trying to protect his investment. But because of the flooded waters it allows navigable waters over private land to this lake.

So he files a suit. Using the law that states navigable waters yes but that law does not specifically state for hunting or fishing.((( Loop Hole )))

So what needs to happen??

How do prove that an angler does know where the high water mark is and the private property starts?

There does need to be some clarification and even ago as far as posting private land. Like for hunting.
make the law state if the land is posted and the water is high they can’t go into the posted area. ( this is just a thought)

The ruling to make it illegal is a bit much and sounds like there just needs to be some clarification and some changes.

The changes that are needed need to keep both parties in mind and and some give and take on ech parties part. A line needs to be drawn somwhere to move on.

Just my .02 cents

Now these are just thoughts for discussion. What do you all think? Does this make some sense?

IMO, if you live close to the river and have a lake that is private normally, but gets connected to public waters at times, you are out of luck. I also think that you shouldn’t be able to camp or whatever on land adjacent to private land just because the water is low. It should extend to the waterline, even though that fluctuates. To me, that just seems logical. It is also pretty easy to enforce then with no guess work.

here were i live there are alot of privite lakes, but when it rains alot these waters raise enough to were you can either stand on the road or launch a boat from the road. now it use to be that county roads had different laws than township roads. they just changed that 2 years ago that when the water is to the road it is public waters. this just happened 2 years ago were this private lake raised high enough to were you could launch a boat and fish it. the owner went out and started to put up no tresspassing signs, and the sheriff, and the DNR pulled them up as he put them up, and said he couldn’t do that because the water abutted the road which at this location was a county road and he did not own the ditch, which made it legal for the fisherman to do what they wanted. now the township roads have the same law, were before they didn’t. theres alot more to the story that needs to be addressed than what we hear, for it is not just our rivers, it is our inland waters also.

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here were i live there are alot of privite lakes, but when it rains alot these waters raise enough to were you can either stand on the road or launch a boat from the road. now it use to be that county roads had different laws than township roads. they just changed that 2 years ago that when the water is to the road it is public waters. this just happened 2 years ago were this private lake raised high enough to were you could launch a boat and fish it. the owner went out and started to put up no tresspassing signs, and the sheriff, and the DNR pulled them up as he put them up, and said he couldn’t do that because the water abutted the road which at this location was a county road and he did not own the ditch, which made it legal for the fisherman to do what they wanted. now the township roads have the same law, were before they didn’t. theres alot more to the story that needs to be addressed than what we hear, for it is not just our rivers, it is our inland waters also.

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That to me is different too and I’d have to side with the land owner on that one. I also had a buddy who’s dad had a private pond in Illinoise. People would tresspass and fish on his lake, which he didn’t mond. However, most of the people kept what they caught and that he did have an issue with. Since all the fished were privately stocked, I’d have issue with that too.

Couldn’t a land owner construct a barrier in the water? I am thinking even a cyclone fence. So when the water went up, you’d be more than welcome to fish the small area that had no fish? I guess it is pretty easy for me to throw my opinions around when it really doesn’t affect me or I am not a land owner affected by it.

i agree with you, i don’t either have land to deal with when it comes to this. but the law states that you don’t own a county or town ship ditch, so if you can step from the ditch to the water you can fish it legaly. i fish alot of these lakes but i ask the owner even though i can do it legally, if he says no i don’t, it’s all in the sportsman ship. now i have people that will walk all over my land hunting without asking, and you already know what happens then, the law will be waiting at your car when you come out, if they would ask i would have know problem letting them. except for deer hunting. theres just so much that we don’t know about this. lets just hope things get straightened out berore someone gets hurt.