Recognizing the escalating deterioration of the state's fragile coastal wetlands due to an overpopulation of furbearing nutria, and recognizing the economic importance of the nutria to the Louisiana fur industry, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, in accordance with the Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Plan, is authorized to enter into cooperative endeavor agreements which establish a cost-sharing program as an economic incentive to trappers and coastal landowners in those areas of the state experiencing damage or loss of coastal lands due to the overpopulated nutria.
La. R.S. § 56:281