2011 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 56 — Wildlife and fisheries
RS 56:427 — Initial application for lease

§427. Initial application for lease

A. Any person who qualifies under this Subpart and who desires to lease a part of the bottom or bed of any of the waters of this state as provided in this Subpart shall present to the secretary a written application, and pay an application fee set by the commission. This application shall contain the name and address of the applicant and a reasonably definite description of the location and amount of land covered by water desired by the applicant. The applicant shall ask that the application be registered and that the water bottom described be leased to the applicant under the provisions of this Subpart. The department shall then register the application, shall order an examination to determine whether the water bottoms applied for are leasable, and shall determine the basis upon which the rental of the lease shall be fixed. If the area is found to be leasable, the applicant shall submit to the department a survey of the area for which the application was submitted. Such survey shall have been conducted in accordance with the standards required by the department. The application shall remain in effect and valid until such time as the survey is complete. If the application is favorably acted upon, the secretary may, at his option, execute a lease for the water bottoms to the applicant as soon as the survey has been made, and the plan or map thereof has been filed with the department.

B. When applications are made by two or more persons for the same water bottoms, the applicant or the heirs or transferors of a deceased applicant who files the first application has prior claim. The department shall not accept any survey plan for any lease that exceeds by ten percent the acreage described in the initial application for the particular lease from the date of adoption of this Subsection, except that the department may accept any lease application, even where the survey plan exceeds by ten percent the acreage described in the initial application, if the lease would not overlap or impact surrounding leases or pending lease applications.

C. The department shall require that the bottoms of water areas to be leased be as compact as possible, taking into consideration such factors as the shape of the body of water, and the condition of the bottom as to hardness or softness which would render it desirable or undesirable for the purpose of oyster cultivation.

D. The provisions of this Section shall apply only to the initial application for an oyster lease, and not to the renewal of a lease.

E. No application for a new lease shall be submitted nor accepted for more than one thousand acres.

Acts 1981, No. 752, §1; Acts 1981, No. 925, §1. Amended by Acts 1982, No. 315, §1; Acts 1990, No. 889, §1, eff. July 25, 1990; Acts 1997, No. 1048, §1; Acts 2003, No. 449, §1; Acts 2010, No. 392, §1.