§425.1. Joint leasing of water bottoms for oyster cultivation and harvest
A. In an effort to allocate competing and dual claims to the ownership of water
bottoms in the best interest of all parties, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is hereby
authorized to enter into an agreement with a private claimant whereby certain water bottoms
may, in cooperation between the state and the private claimant, be leased to a third party for
the cultivation and harvest of oysters. Any such agreement shall not in any way be
interpreted to indicate or determine ownership of the water bottom nor shall any such
agreement be interpreted to allocate or designate ownership of mineral rights beneath the
water bottom. The department may promulgate under the Administrative Procedure Act the
processes by which such agreements shall be negotiated and administered.
B. Any such agreement may originate with either the department or the private
claimant and any annual rental payments required by R.S. 56:428(C) shall be made to the
department as provided by R.S. 56:428(C). Except for the requirements of R.S. 56:425(A)
for determination of state ownership, the lease shall be subject to the provisions of Subpart
D of Part VII of Chapter 1 of Title 56 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950 in addition
to any other conditions of the agreement between the state and the private claimant.
C. The joint agreement between the state and the private claimant shall remain in
effect throughout the term of any lease issued subject to the agreement or until ownership of
the water bottom has been determined by final judgment of the court. Any lease subject to
the joint agreement shall terminate at the time a court has issued a final determination of
ownership of the water bottom.
D. Beginning July 1, 2016, and continuing until the final implementation of Phase
Three of Section 2 of Act No. 808 of the 2008 Regular Session as amended by Acts 2016,
No. 595 of the 2016 Regular Session of the Legislature, oysters found on a vessel owned and
operated by the holder of a private oyster lease executed and properly recorded prior to
February 1, 2016, or operated by an agent or employee of such private oyster leaseholder
shall be presumed to have been legally harvested from the leaseholder's private oyster lease.
In order to document the legality of the harvest of oysters from the private lease, a certified
copy of the lease as filed in the public records of the parish in which the lease is located shall
be carried on each vessel used to harvest oysters from the private lease and shall be available
for examination by representatives of the department.
E. In order to preserve private contract rights and to protect existing investments, the
department shall recognize as valid a private oyster lease in effect and properly recorded as
of February 1, 2016, until such time as the processing of the lease acreage pursuant to the
provisions of Phase Three of Section 2 of Act No. 808 of the 2008 Regular Session as
amended by Acts 2016, No. 595 of the 2016 Regular Session of the Legislature is complete.
Such recognition shall not in any way be interpreted to indicate or determine ownership of
the water bottom nor shall any such agreement be interpreted to allocate or designate
ownership of mineral rights beneath the water bottom.
F. For the purposes of this Section, "dual claim" shall refer to a claim to immovable
property for which a private claimant holds title and to which the state also makes an
ownership claim as a sovereign navigable water bottom, but to which title has not been
adjudicated to either party by a final, unappealable judgment of a court of competent
jurisdiction.
Acts 2016, No. 570, §1, eff. July 1, 2016.
NOTE: See Act 595 of 2016 Regular Session, §2, for details of moratorium lifting
procedure.