From the
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By Tom Pelton
Sun reporter
Maryland is considering a
ban on the capture of diamondback terrapin after watermen reported trapping
more than 10,000 of the rare turtles last year - a twentyfold increase from the
year before.
Demand for the state
reptile is fueled by a growing appetite for
Terrapin traps have
proliferated despite regulations imposed by the Ehrlich administration last
year that were advertised as an effort to save the turtle.
The regulatory effort
"totally backfired," said Willem Roosenburg, a terrapin expert at
The rules outlawed catching
terrapin from November through July - but allowed the capture of smaller
turtles, with shells from 4 to 7 inches long, from Aug. 1 through the end of
October. Before last year, trapping turtles with shells smaller than 6 inches
was prohibited.
Some watermen have said
that the more liberal size limits encouraged more trapping and shipping of the
small turtles to
"Terrapin are a
marvelous creature, and we certainly don't want to lose our state icon,"
said state Del. Virginia P. Clagett, an Anne Arundel County Democrat who has
more than 30 co-sponsors on a bill to ban terrapin trapping. "We don't
want to see the terrapin disappear, which is the way they are heading."
Terrapin are unique because
they're the only turtle in the
The Maryland Department of Natural
Resources is studying the possibility of a ban on terrapin trapping or
tighter regulations, said Howard King, director of fisheries program at the
agency.
"The information we
received does compel us to further restrict the harvest of terrapin and do a
better job of protecting terrapin nesting habitat," King said.
The construction of rock
walls, roads and houses along beaches has destroyed terrapin nesting grounds,
contributing to the decline of the species - perhaps more than trapping, King
said.
Larry Simns, president of
the Maryland Watermen's Association, said he believes that terrapin populations
are healthy and outlawing trapping would eliminate an important source of
income for watermen.
"Every time you take
something away from a waterman, he's that much closer to starving to
death," Simns said.
One reason the numbers
spiked last year is because of better reporting required under the 2006
regulations, King said.
The estimates before last
year might have significantly understated the terrapin harvest, King said. The
state created a new license last year for diamondback trapping, and 34 watermen
received the permits, according to state figures. Fewer than 10 watermen a year
told the state they were fishing for terrapin before that. But more might have
been catching the turtles and keeping it quiet, King said.
He said Gov. Martin
O'Malley's administration plans to introduce new regulations this spring, after
public hearings. "One option is an outright ban," King said.
"Another option would be the status quo, and a third would be in the
middle - a reduced harvest."
Sen. Roy P. Dyson, a
Southern Maryland Democrat, is working with Clagett and other lawmakers on
legislation that would outlaw commercial harvest of the terrapin. People would
still be allowed to catch and keep up to three as pets, according to a draft of
the bill. "The females produce very few eggs, and their mortality rate is
very, very high," said Dyson. "We can't allow the kind of
exploitation that's been going on."
Backing the legislators is
a coalition of conservationists, including leaders of the National
Aquarium in
"We can't have our
state reptile and eat it, too - that's what it boils down to," said Jack
Cover, general curator for the National
Aquarium.
Eleven states have outlawed
the commercial harvest of the turtle, including
"It's very
ironic," said Cover, who has been lobbying lawmakers this week in
Terrapin grow up to a foot
in length, live up to a half-century and use their clawed feet to dig mollusks
out of the mud.
The famously shy reptiles
play an important role in preserving the bay's salt marshes and discouraging
erosion. Terrapin eat snails, which eat spartina grass.
"If those populations
of snails aren't kept down, the salt grasses will get eaten, and then the
marshes will be washed away," said Richard B. Stanley, volunteer legal
adviser for an advocacy group called the Chesapeake Terrapin Alliance.
Until the late 19th
century, terrapin were regarded with disdain - fit only as food for servants.
Their image improved in the
1880s when a Crisfield businessman, Albert T. Lavallette Jr., started breeding
them and marketing terrapin soup as a delicacy for upscale restaurants.
The turtles were regarded
as a status symbol like caviar. They were fished almost to extinction around
the turn of the century. But then the turtle soup, which was cooked with
liberal amounts of sherry, went out of style in the 1930s with Prohibition.
Demand for the turtles was
low until the late 1990s, when Asian consumers began seeking terrapin (which
are native to
Nobody knows how many
terrapin are left, but many experts suspect their numbers are falling as the
bay's beaches are devoured by development, said Whilden.
One study, by
"We don't want them to
become threatened or endangered," said Whilden. "Because
if you get to that point, you've lost the battle."