Great News!!

Maryland's terrapins are officially protected from commercial harvesting as of July 1!

Click here to see Governor O'Malley signing the terrapin bills into law on April 24, 2007

 

Our many thanks to Senator Dyson, Delegate Clagett, cosponsors, their legislative staff members and to all of you who called and wrote to your representatives and secured the bills' passage!

 

 

 

This is a great first step. There is much exciting work ahead that's needed to truly protect our terrapins ...and it's work that will help many other important species including some of our very favorites like Maryland's blue crabs!

 

One great thing about striving for terrapin conservation is that it will also benefit the populations of many animals and plants in the Bay.

With some creativity we can mitigate the many other significant problems that remain such as habitat loss and degradation, and "shoreline hardening" in critical nesting areas (rip rap boulders can block or trap nesting females but other types erosion control (see the Living Shorelines program for example) allow access and may last longer).

 

We will be updating this web site to let you know about simple ways in which you can help terrapin conservation so please check back again soon (and hit the Refresh button when you do to see the updates)

 

Before you go, please take a moment to thank Governor O'Malley for showing such dedication to protecting Maryland's terrapins!

As always, if you have any questions, please let us know. Thanks!

Visit the Action Center to learn more about how you can help terrapins.

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Update: The Terrapin Petition has well over 3,500 signatures +2,000 letters from Defenders of Wildlife members + 275 signatures collected by a remarkable 11 year old (click on link & scroll to the end) ... that's over 5,750 people in favor of protecting terrapins and counting! And it worked - Thanks!   ____________________________

Save your mascot!

Terrapin harvests are increasing, seemingly exponentially, to supply the fast growing demand for turtles in urban Asian food markets both here and overseas. Maryland is one of the few states left that still allows terrapin harvesting. Necessarily, Maryland's terrapins will be looked to to meet this burgeoning demand.

 

All the published scientific evidence from long-term studies that shows that no wild turtle can be sustainably harvested. Last year MD DNR Fisheries modified the 2006 terrapin bill from a ban on the terrapin fishery and changed it into a regulated harvest where in only three months' time 14 fishermen removed 10,278 terrapins from the Bay.

By comparison, only ~7,000 terrapin were caught during three years of the intensive federal USGS study.

 

We encourage everyone to participate in future projects as we all move forward to help preserve our terrapin populations in the Chesapeake Bay.

Note: This site is updated frequently so please make sure to hit the 'Refresh' button each time you visit to see all the new features & updates.

 

Please let us know if you have any questions or need further information. Thanks!