I was thinking about something last night, can anyone help me on to why is a public pier the only place you don't need a fishing license?
According to:ARTICLE 1 DECLARATION OF RIGHTS Section 25. 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 no law shall ever be passed making it a crime for the people to enter upon the public lands within this State for the purpose of fishing in any water containing fish that have been planted therein by the State; provided, that the legislature may by statute, provide for the season when and the conditions under which the different species of fish may be taken.
I was thinking about what public land of the state means and in the water thereof?
I found this website that's said;The definition of territorial waters is as follows
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_waters "Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, [1] is a belt of coastal waters extending at most 12 nautical miles (22.2 km; 13.8 mi) from the baseline (usually the mean low-water mark) of a coastal state. The territorial sea is regarded as the sovereign territory of the state"
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/conventi...clos/part2.htm
So then I got too thinking, that the right to fish is only defined in section 25 of the CA constitution to be on firm ground of public land and it's lakes rivers... but it may not legally apply to its 12 mile coastline, as section 25 does not define it.....
It can be argued that the right 12 mile coastline of the whole state are waters that belong to the state. Section 25: in the waters of the state.