Northeast - Beach access in MA - high or low tide water mark?

Does the property owner own up to the mean high or low tide water mark in MA? Any exceptions for hunting or fishing?

Does the property owner own up to the mean high or low tide water mark in MA? Any exceptions for hunting or fishing?

Generally high water mark for fishing and hunting, including shellfishing. Other uses are trespassing.

Some owners have rights to the low water line and legally can ask you to leave. That is true on two beaches I know of here on the Boston North Shore

Which beaches on the north shore?

Generally high water mark for fishing and hunting, including shellfishing. Other uses are trespassing.

Sorry, you have it backwards.
In Massachusetts, most intertidal land is owned by the landowner (with exceptions for navigation and the taking of fish and fowl)

More info here:
http://www.mass.gov/czm/shorelinepublicaccess.htm

Good question. Magnolia Harbor???????

Sorry, you have it backwards.
In Massachusetts, most intertidal land is owned by the landowner (with exceptions for navigation and the taking of fish and fowl)

More info here:
http://www.mass.gov/czm/shorelinepublicaccess.htm

Thanks for posting this David. I had always been told it was the low water mark.. ;?

Goes to show you how bad information can be passed on for generations and end up seeming like law. Very interesting read.

Thanks for posting this David. I had always been told it was the low water mark.. ;?

Goes to show you how bad information can be passed on for generations and end up seeming like law. Very interesting read.
It is mean low water on the shouth shore.

Sorry, you have it backwards.
In Massachusetts, most intertidal land is owned by the landowner (with exceptions for navigation and the taking of fish and fowl)

More info here:
http://www.mass.gov/czm/shorelinepublicaccess.htm

Sorry, but you are partially wrong. Most intertidal land is owned by the landowner (I.e. low water mark) with 3 exceptions for hunting, fishing and Certain navigational rights.

How is he wrong? did you look at the link he posted?

Sorry, but you are partially wrong. Most intertidal land is owned by the landowner (I.e. low water mark) with 3 exceptions for hunting, fishing and Certain navigational rights.

So as interpret it, even though that inter-tidal zone is owned by the landowner, he/she must still allow fishing/taking of fowl and navigating in that actual zone??

Like a "Right of way" in a sense??

So as interpret it, even though that inter-tidal zone is owned by the landowner, he/she must still allow fishing/taking of fowl and navigating in that actual zone??

Like a "Right of way" in a sense??

That's what the English version I read suggested.

Although the Colonial Ordinance changed the ownership of most intertidal flats from public to private, it did not transfer all property rights originally held in trust by the state. For one thing, no rights to the water itself (as distinct from the underlying lands) were relinquished by the Ordinance. Moreover, the law specifically reserved for the public the right to continue to use private tidelands for three purposes-fishing, fowling, and navigation.

Clearly, these rights cover a variety of both old and new activities that many people enjoy, such as surfcasting and windsurfing. Still, the courts have imposed some limits. The right of fishing, for example, does not allow the use of structures for aquaculture or the taking of plant debris washed up on the beach. Also, courts have made it clear that the public right to use this area does not include the right to simply stroll, sunbathe, or otherwise engage in recreation unrelated to fishing, fowling, or navigation. Without permission from the landowner, such general recreation is trespassing. There is only one narrow exception to this rule-because there are no private property rights in the water itself, the public is allowed to swim in the intertidal zone provided the swimmer does not touch the private land underneath or use it to enter or leave the water.

from that link. This reminds me - a landowner at the end of the swan river on cape cod has a couple of big no trespassing signs up and that he owns up to the high water mark. I think I'm gonna fish that beach next week ;-)

Sorry, but you are partially wrong. Most intertidal land is owned by the landowner (I.e. low water mark) with 3 exceptions for hunting, fishing and Certain navigational rights.

Ummm, I said fishing, fowling (ie. bird hunting) and navigation. How am I wrong? ;?

Ummm, I said fishing, fowling (ie. bird hunting) and navigation. How am I wrong? ;?

you were incorrect only in saying I had it backwards. In honesty I did not thoroughly read your post as I assumed you were in disagreement with the substance in mine, which would have been incorrect.

Someone posted on this exact subject a while back.

He use to sit on the beach (of the "owner" with the "No Trespassing" sign) with his chair and a pink fishing pole he bought from WalMart. Owner called Police etc...but he was technically in the right.

What a scoundrel!!!

[I] This reminds me - a landowner at the end of the swan river on cape cod has a couple of big no trespassing signs up and that he owns up to the high water mark. I think I'm gonna fish that beach next week ;-)
:rofl:
HAHA, watch out they have attack dogs. :rofl: Let us know how the fishing there is i haven't been there with the new sand bar shift.

I fish Marblehead and Swampscott beaches and one of my favorite places to fish had a white pickett fence put up that goes right down and into the water. The owner was trying to cut off access to a rocky outcrop that we have fished on since we were kids. Pissed me off the first time I saw it.

Wha did you do?

Go anyway and let them try to throw you out. Anywhere that ocean water covers the sand is free game as far as I'm concerned, that's why we build bridges instead of causeways.

Which beaches on the north shore?Kettle Cove ,they act like they own the sun up there too,theres one real Nazi Bitch I know off.

Does this mean I can surf cast in the designated bouyed off swim areas on "private" Falmouth beaches? Woohoo!!!

Does this mean I can surf cast in the designated bouyed off swim areas on "private" Falmouth beaches? Woohoo!!!
Try it in front of the "Kennedy Compound" and see what happens!