The new law was rushed through in the waning hours of the 2023 session after the state settled a lawsuit by granting a property owner exclusive fishing rights over a portion of the shoals. The law was welcomed by anglers, paddlers and conservationists, but agribusiness and some private property owners objected to language in the bill referencing the ‘public trust doctrine’ — a common-law principle that natural resources belong to the public and are kept in trust by the state.