FEDERAL JUDGE RULES BOATING AND FISHING ILLEGAL!!!

[toho28]

http://www.trumpetamerica.org/060917ta1815.html

[docj]

Unbelievable!!! That ruling WILL be overturned. There is too much at stake not to...

[thataway]

Very old news. This is a small group trying to get support and stirring the pot. There are not navigation rights involved. The issue is criminal tresspass above the high water mark of the flooded Mississippi River, by hunters and Fisherman. The fued has been going on for a number of years. This local magistrate's ruling will most likely be overturned on appeal in October.

[toho28]

This issue may have been going on for some time, but this story is current. The following story is from BoatTest.com on 9/14/06. The federaldistrict judge just overuled the local magistrates ruling. Of course, this case will be appealed tothe federal circuitcourt and will be reversed...but in the mean time...it technically stands.

Court Ruling Makes Boating Illegal in Much of U.S. 09/14/06

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.

Courtesy of Trade Only

[Bitefish]

No, the story is not really current. The war is old, and this ruling applies only to lands flooded by a river that is out of its banks.

C'mon guys. I know there are people trying to stir the pot here, but the claim made in this story isn't what the judge ruled. Go read the case file - I have!

[toho28]

If you are referring to me withyour stirring the pot comments...please spare me...I have never heard of this case before today. I'm only relaying a story about a federal judges August 29th decision which I would classify as current. The MRRA seems concerned enough to notify it's members, but heck...what do they know.

[pooldoo73]

The Judge DID NOT rule boating illegal. The judge did, in fact, say that you have a right to navigate waters of the US. You can even navigate waters up to the high water mark. You DO NOT have a right to fish in those waters, just navigate. Fishing is a privilege, according to this Federal Judge.

edit- And YES, this in particular story is over 6 months old. This issue is decades old in Louisiana.

[Bitefish]

toho28 - 9/21/2006 10:47 PM

If you are referring to me with*your stirring the pot comments...please spare me...I have never heard of this case before today. I'm only relaying a story about a federal judges August 29th decision which I would classify as current. The MRRA seems concerned enough to notify it's members, but heck...what do they know.

Let's see.... the MRAA opposes lemon laws (gee, big surprise, NOT!) and mandatory recall laws (gee, so an unsafe product shouldn't be able to be recalled?)

They also want to force manufacturers to pay full retail labor rates for warranty work, no matter whether or not those rates are reasonable or customary. In other words, whatever the shop posts on the wall (whether they'd discount it to YOU as a consumer or not!), that's what the manufacturer should be forced to pay.

Parts in stock that are used by a dealer to fix a warranty item should not only be replaced by the manufacturer (reasonable), the dealer should get his mark-up on them as well Huh? What's wrong with prompt replacement, freight-prepaid? A coil pack is a coil pack, is it not? Oh wait - these guys want warranty work to be a huge profit center for the dealers - not reimbursed at a reasonable rate, but effectively a retail sale to a consumer?! Where'd they get the dope they're smoking?

Never mind the rest - its obviously slanted so far one way that its overwhelming where they stand.

If these guys are as "on the stick" about this as the rest, well, I think you can figure out what I think.....

[Bitefish]

pooldoo73 - 9/21/2006 11:21 PM

The Judge DID NOT rule boating illegal. The judge did, in fact, say that you have a right to navigate waters of the US. You can even navigate waters up to the high water mark. You DO NOT have a right to fish in those waters, just navigate. Fishing is a privilege, according to this Federal Judge.

Indeed, fishing IS a privilege. You need to buy a license to fish, and said license requires, among other things, that you not be delinquent in any child support payments you might owe! (Yes, they DO check - now you know why they want your SS#!) Never mind they want money. You don't have to pay money to the government to exercise your rights.

So this federal judge is indeed right - fishing is INDEED a privilege, just as is driving a car. Surprise! We all lost this right and had it demoted when we supported and allowed "licenses" to be required to fish.

Guys, you might want to think about this long and hard before supporting any proposals for mandatory boater licensing. You see, that's how we lost our right to fish..... we can lose the right to navigate just as easily, if we're stupid.

This ruling dealt only with rivers that are outside their banks during a flood, and whether a person who owned what was dry land lost their right to control access to that area when water rose up and flooded it. This is not a new dispute, and there have been disparate opinions on the matter over the years. This is just the latest one - but it has nothing to do with fishing within a river's nominal banks, or with any tidal waterway that is at or lower than MHHW.

[pooldoo73]

Thanks for the addition Bitefish. I could not agree with you more on the right/privilege thing. If a license is required to do it, it can be taken away. If it can be taken away, it is no longer a right.