§101.2. Policy and purpose

            A. The legislature finds and declares that it is in the public interest and within the police power of this state to establish a fishermen's gear compensation and underwater obstruction removal program and a fishermen's gear compensation and underwater obstruction removal dedicated fund account to provide for the proper and timely identification, inventory, and removal of underwater obstructions that are a hazard to navigation and commercial fishing in the state, and to compensate commercial fishermen for damage to their fishing gear from the underwater obstructions. The program and fund account shall be administered, for purposes of fishermen's gear compensation, by the secretary of the office of coastal management and, for purposes of underwater obstruction, by the secretary of the Department of Conservation and Energy.

            B. Nothing in this Part shall be deemed to alter or impair any rights and responsibilities established by contract between private parties.

            Acts 1997, No. 666, §2; Acts 2021, No. 114, §18, eff. July 1, 2022; Acts 2022, No. 100, §2, eff. July 1, 2023; Acts 2023, No. 150, §5, eff. Jan. 10, 2024; Acts 2025, No. 458, §1, eff. Oct. 1, 2025.

NOTE: See R.S. 30:101.15 regarding the termination of Part after June 30, 2027.