From the
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By Tom
Pelton
sun reporter
Watermen objected strongly to a proposal to ban the trapping of diamondback
terrapins during a public meeting in
But biologists with the Maryland Department of
Natural Resources said that the slow-reproducing reptiles couldn't survive
much fishing pressure, especially because their habitat is being rapidly
destroyed.
"Terrapin are in fact
very sensitive to human-induced mortality," biologist Lynn Fegley told a
crowd of about 40 fishermen and environmentalists during a meeting at the
agency's headquarters.
The state wildlife agency
and several legislators are weighing a prohibition on the trapping of
Maryland's official state reptile in the wake of a new state study that found
that more than 10,000 were reported caught last year -- several times the
annual catch reported in previous years.
The commercial harvest rose
despite regulations introduced in August that were billed as a way to save the
terrapin by reducing the catch. The new rules banned trapping from November
through July but for the first time allowed the capture of smaller turtles,
with shells 4 to 6 inches long, from Aug. 1 through Nov. 1.
In response to a growing
market for terrapin soup in
"You've got to start
being more intelligent with your regulations," said seafood dealer Michael
Johnson. "That made no sense ... and it opened up a whole new world of
pressure on the species. ... The watermen should not bear the brunt of this
mistake."
Larry Simns, president of
the Maryland Watermen's Association, told state officials that his group will
fight any ban on terrapin trapping. Simns said a ban would hurt the incomes of
fishermen without targeting what he believes are the real problems -- motor
boats, which kill turtles, and shoreline development that ruins turtle nesting
habitat.
Howard King, director of
the fisheries program for the state, said his agency "as quickly as
possible" will draft new regulations on terrapin catching, and that a ban
"is certainly an option."