Louisiana Revised Statutes Tit. 56, § 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 Acts 2008, No. 808, as amended by Acts 2016, No. 595, 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 Acts 2008, No. 808, as amended by Acts 2016, No. 595 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.