We know that MD DNR Fisheries' regulations resulted in a 20-fold increase in the 2006 harvest - 10, 278 terrapins became part of the food and pet trade in only 3 months time - one of the largest takes (harvests) ever and we know that this has set terrapin populations back by decades since they reproduce so slowly.

 

If you've looked at the permanent regulations and wondered, what do these really mean, here are just some of the concerns that biologists have raised about the regulations.

The DNR Fisheries Service's regulations do:

1) shorten the season to three months after the majority of nesting is completed

2) protect the largest, and so oldest, females from direct harvesting

 

The DNR Fisheries Service's regulations do not address the following concerns:

1) Terrapin live 'locally', which means that an efficient fisherman can clear an area of its resident terrapin within 1-3 years time, as reflected in HB 980 or the terrapin bill's fiscal statement, "Moderate trapping effort on or near a nesting beach can destroy 95% of a nesting population within one or two years."

 

2) A 20-yr study in MD's Patuxent River shows that the population has declined 75%. This is also the only study available upon which the DNR Fisheries based its regulations.

 

3) The market demand is escalating and MD is one of the few states left that allows the harvesting of their terrapins to meet that demand.

 

4) Based on that 20-yr study the proposed slot limits protect 50% of the reproductive size females - the oldest and largest - from direct harvesting yet these are still vulnerable to the suite of threats that are currently reducing our populations, such as fyke nets and road mortality when females are hit by cars while looking for a site to nest.

 

5) Recent work by K. Hart on terrapins shows that it is the other 50% of reproductive size females, the smaller females, that are crucial to a population's long term stability because they are supposed to replace the older larger females as they die naturally.

These are the females that are now targeted by the slot limits.

 

6) The majority of the terrapin harvest in the past few years has gone unreported to the DNR and has only been shown through dealer purchases. The current regulations do not address the problems of enforceability.

 

7) The bill, HB980 Natural Resources: Terrapin, that was passed in April references the recommendations of the 2001 Governor's Terrapin Task Force. The primary recommendation back in 2001 was to immediately suspend the harvest of terrapin, but this was not included in the proposed regulations.

 

8) Fisheries did not follow their own permitting process outlined in their emergency regulations that governed the 2006 harvest season. This resulted in a record 34 permits issued to commercial fishermen to harvest terrapins - that's up from a yearly average of 8!

 

These regulations, and the levels of take they support, are likely to be in place until at least the fall of 2008 and likely longer as the DNR has stated they do not have the funding necessary to move forward.

 

Since "Moderate trapping effort on or near a nesting beach can destroy 95% of a nesting population within one or two years", it is clear that it could take decades for local populations to recover under these regulations. Indeed, long-term studies of terrapins in the wild show that a steady population decline will result from a loss of adults as little as 2-5% per year.

 

Please contact your representatives to let them know you care about our State's mascot and copy us so that we can also keep track of your concerns. Thank you for helping protect the health of our terrapin populations!