Re: Fishing

Fishing is an activity which is good for people. It allows us to sit or stand quietly, focusing on seeing slight movements in the water or feeling slight movements on a line which we would not think we could see or feel. Fishing is something we should encourage whether or not it makes a few people money.

One of the reasons more people don’t fish is the cost: a license for a person 16 years old or older costs $46.34.That is a lot of money for a lot of people. Another reason people do not fish is lack of access to water.

Over time, the public has lost access to the banks of the rivers as land owners along the riverbanks and levee maintenance organizations controlled by land owners have blocked access to the rivers. This seems odd, as we have fairly clear laws on the subject. A member of the public is entitled to be on a navigable water, including the temporarily dry banks of the water, up to the ordinary high water mark, and there engage in recreational activities including fishing.

Public agencies are supposed to consider the effect of their actions on public access and use whenever making a decision; refrain from adversely affecting that access and use whenever feasible; make the decisions in a public transparent way; and, preserve a record of the action to facilitate subsequent judicial review. Article I, Section 25 of the state constitution, added November 8, 1910, provides “The people shall have the right to fish upon and from the public lands of the State and in the waters thereof, excepting upon lands set aside for fish hatcheries, and no land owned by the State shall ever be sold or transferred without reserving in the people the absolute right to fish thereupon,” and the courts have told us that “public lands” means any stateowned land other than that being used by the state for a purpose incompatible with public access, for example prisons and mental institutions.

In 1915, the attorney general advised that these fishing rights exist in land sold by the state after the adoption of section 25, whether or not the words appear in the deed.

However, the state does not make available to the public a listing of the lands subject to these fishing rights, and the public has no practical way to identify the lands subject to these rights.

Our Department of Fish and Wildlife is not help much.

It does no post signs letting the public know where the state-owned land open for fishing is. It does not disclose the existence of the some the state-owned land open for fishing in Sutter County. It stands by while land owners block public access over state-owned easements. It does not provide near river access at state-owned land open for fishing. It does not provide parking at state-owned land open for fishing.

Our district attorney and county counsel are not much help, as neither is interested in protecting the public’s rights of access as against landowners.

Francis Coats

I’m not sure why you continue to run the “comic” strip of Mallard Fillmore. You removed Doonesbury, because it was too political, and yet Mallard is in the paper every day. It’s not funny, it’s divisive, and continues the hateful narrative of our country’s discourse. Hate, anywhere, towards anyone, is not helpful. We are responsible for our own actions. Let’s focus on coming together for the betterment of our country.

Joyce Mattoon