Thanks to your petition signatures and letters your representatives and the Governor have passed bills to permanently protect MD's terrapins from commercial harvesting! Please don't miss this next important step to ensure their conservation:   Please thank your Governor O'Malley and your Delegates and Senators to let them know that you care & you're paying attention!   They've done a lot of work this session on behalf of terrapins and we couldn't be more thankful. Hearing from you will help them to support the Department of Natural Resources to proactively conserve terrapins from all the other threats such as bycatch and habitat degradation. Hearing from you is one of the most positive and effective things that you can do to help to protect your mascot and our natural resources!  See below for contact info and a sample letter - thanks! ___________________________

 

Contact Governor O'Malley and thank your Representatives!

It's easier than you think and they appreciate knowing how their constituents feel about current issues. Please thank Governor O'Malley and your Delegates and Senators for passing the bills. They need to hear that you care about terrapins and you want their populations to be protected through solid conservation regulations.

Just as importantly, email the MD Department of Natural Resources and copy the Governor to let them know they have your strong support to make proactive strides forward as they develop their terrapin conservation regulations this May.

Keep in mind that in these days of technology, a general rule of thumb is:

A letter is worth more than a

phone call, which is worth more than a

fax, which is worth more than an

email

That said, please contact your representative by whatever means are most convenient to you - it counts and it is important!

 

Contact Governor O'Malley or use his web mail form and copy your Delegates and Senators:

410.974.3901 (p)
410.974.3275 (f)
Toll Free 1.800.811.8336
TDD 410.333.3098
MD Relay 1.800.735.2258

Office of the Governor,
Martin O'Malley
State House
Annapolis, Maryland 21401-1925

 

To find your Delegates and Senators' email and mailing addresses, visit this web site:

http://mdelect.net/electedofficials/

Enter your address and click on the "Find Elected Officials" button" to find your district, delegates, and senator. Click on the names to get a full bio and contact information for each.

 

Sample letter:

Note: Form letters are readily dismissed.

To be certain that your letter will count, please be sure to personalize and edit the below message so that it express why protecting our terrapins is important to you. Thanks!

 

Subject: Thank you!

Dear Governor O'Malley and honorable Representatives:

Thank you for protecting our diamondback terrapins from commercial harvesting. It was the only biologically appropriate thing to do since all the available science that indicates terrapin cannot be sustainably harvested.

We value diamondback terrapins - they are a source of public pride and are symbolic as our State reptile and University mascot. They are also important to the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

Terrapins keep prey such as salt marsh periwinkle populations in check whereas unchecked these snails can reduce a salt marsh to bare mud flats in ~3 months time. This leads to erosion and a loss of the very nurseries and food sources that our most economically important fisheries depend on.

Scientists think that bycatch levels are already decimating terrapin populations throughout their range, including right here in Maryland. Terrapins need protection through simple modifications to fishing gear such as advertising the requirement of Bycatch Reduction Devices on recreational crab pots and adding floats to fishing nets to provide an air space at high tide.

Because terrapins live locally and are loyal to their territory (they don't move or exist in one large Bay-wide population), they can be easily decimated locally as we saw last spring when ~200 terrapins drowned off Eastern Neck Wildlife Refuge in 8 unchecked fishing nets.

The one available long term study in the Patuxent system shows a 75% decline. Because turtles show a late age at maturity, live upwards of fifty years and since very few young survive to adulthood, any missteps we make may set their populations' health back by decades.

Please ensure that the Department of Natural Resources and DNR Fisheries enact proactive regulations to truly conserve our terrapins for all Maryland residents because we value their presence as an emblematic symbol of the State's natural wealth and the riches of our Chesapeake Bay.

Thank you for your time and concern and for continuing to work to protect Maryland's natural resources for all stakeholders.

Sincerely,

_________________

 

Links to two easy to use guides to make your correspondence its most effective:

 

Sample handouts with great talking points:

 

References and PDFs of some of the many published scientific articles that say a terrapin fishery is unsustainable can be found here.

 

Letting your representatives know that you care is one of the most positive and effective ways to protect these wonderful turtles and the environment they live in. Please let us know when you send in your letters so that we can also keep abreast of your thoughts and concerns.

 

Many thanks and good luck!

 

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