In the latest, and one of the most significant, challenges to angler access in recent years, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana has ruled that anglers do not have the state or federal common law right to fish and hunt on the Mississippi River up to the high-water mark when it floods privately owned land.
In Parm v. Shumate (Civil Action No. 01-2624), Normal Parm, Jr., and four others were fishing a section of the Mississippi River between the ordinary high- and low-water marks when the owner of the adjacent land, Walker Cottonwood Farms, contacted the local sheriff and had Parm arrested and charged with trespass.
The court found that although Walker Cottonwood Farms' privately owned property (the area between the ordinary low and ordinary high stage of water) is subject to public use because it is a bank of the Mississippi River, fishing and hunting were not among the permitted uses. Only those "activities that are incidental to the navigable character of the Mississippi River and its enjoyment as an avenue of commerce" are permitted.
This would include "all legitimate purposes of travel or transportation, for boating or sailing for pleasure, as well as for carrying persons or property for hire," but not for fishing or hunting. An appeal to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is planned, and BASS, with the help of our partners in conservation, has taken a leadership role to protect your rights to fish on public waters.
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