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Nice essay on riparain rights, but they have nothing to do with shore access issues and coastal property rights. The area of law in question is littoral rights.
Almost half of the states border tidewaters. In all but 2, the landowner's property rights end at the mean high water mark. The land between high and low water, called the intertidal zone, is held by the state in trust for the use of the public. This is based on principles of English common law going back hundreds of years. Two states, Mass and Maine, granted ownership to the mean low water mark. This was done in colonial times, when maine was part of Mass. The purpose of the law was to encourage landowners to build docks.
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