Fwd: DTWG: Latest on MD House Bill 980
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Disappointing news regarding the diamondback terrapin bill in Maryland:roosenburg
Stephen, Is there anything the members of this group can do at this point? Has the bill passed? Jim From: Stephen & Candace Chew [mailto:diamondback_terrapin@…] Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2006 3:38 PM To: Diamondback Terrapins Subject: [diamondbackterrapins] Fwd: DTWG: Latest on MD House Bill 980 Disappointing news regarding the diamondback terrapin bill in Maryland : roosenburg
management plan for terrapins in MD. Below is a copy of an email that I
sent to the PARC listserve yesterday. I am at a loss for what to do to get
this moratorium in place but can only tell you that the political forces
that are working against this bill are strong. The MD Watermans Assoc.
testified about hardship and how they were seeing more terrapins than ever
and the MD-DNR said that they had taken measures to protect terrapins and
that the primary threat to terrapin populations was habitat loss. These
were all lies and no scientific data were brought forth to support these
statements. While these are important issues, the harvest is an additional
component of the problems that terrapins are confronted with and should be
eliminated.My biggest fear is that all this attention being brought to terrapins
without successful implementation of a moratorium may well increase the
awareness of this fishery and further increase the pressure.email to PARC
The MD Terrapin prohibition has not passed despite the efforts of many in
the turtle conservation community and we are grateful for everyone’s
support. What remains is a bill that calls on the MD DNR to develop a
“management plan” for terrapins. MD-DNR has been successful in thwarting
the prohibition on harvest and it is not clear to me why this is the case,
whether they are kowtowing to the Watermen’s Association (an extremely
powerful lobbying group in MD) or there are other political underpinnings
related to this bill.I think the unfortunate conclusion of the current bill is that we can look
forward to the continued harvest of diamondback terrapins while drawing
attention to the fishery which will only increase harvest pressure.BTW – I spend a lot of time on the water in MD and the only conclusion that
I can come to based both on observation and data is that the population
that I have been studying for the past 20 years has declined severely.
Unfortunately, the law that frequently governs the most commercial
harvesters is the ‘Tragedy of the Commons’; this is my personal observation.Willem Roosenburg
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MD residents AND non-Maryland residents can help. Call, write, or attend the hearing this Friday. Details are below, but please call or write this week! The Senate committee hearing for this bill will be Friday in Annapolis. Any interested parties can attend the hearing and TESTIFY FOR the bill – but you need to be signed in by 1230. For details on attending the hearing, please call the committee number below. You could either ask the Senate committee members to drop the ammendments, add another ammendment that will put a moritorium on harvesting until a proper management plan is in place or a proper study done, or ask them to suppor the bill as it stands now. I’d remind them that it would cost the state far more to do a proper study to manage the species properly than the fisherman REPORT receiving in profit every year from the terrapin harvested. Take a look at the fiscal impact report at the bottom of the bill at http://mlis.state.md.us/2006rs/billfile/HB0980.htm Also remind them that turtles are not fish, and should not be managed as fish. It takes years for fish populations to rebound, it takes DECADES for turtle populations to rebound. If habitat destruction is the main problem, then what is DNR doing about it? I’d assume the fisheman would want to protect their income by stopping habitat loss, right? Also, current MD regulations require a MINIMUM size of SEVEN INCHES for harvesting, meaning that the 10,000 POUNDS of purchased terrapins last year were ALL FEMALES. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that removing that many females from a population annually, even if it is a population of a few 100,000 animals, will result in a crash in a few years. Fisheries was asked to establish a 4-7″ slot limit five years ago by the Governor’s Task Force, to reduce the pressure on females as most states do, and they ignored even that little bit of advice. What makes us think they’ll ever manage the terrapin properly, or can be trusted now? The bill has made it out of the House committee with ammendments, and passed the House of Delegates with a vote of 138-0. The ammendment was that a harvest is still allowed, but the DNR MUST have a management plan, which, amazingly, they don’t have one now! Any management activities will be subject to public review through the Maryland Register, like any other proposed regulation, so we’ll still have a chance to make comments when those public comment periods come up – I’ll let you know about them as I learn of them. Ammendments can be viewed here, at the bottom of the page: http://mlis.state.md.us/2006rs/billfile/HB0980.htm and include “THE REGULATIONS ADOPTED UNDER THIS SECTION SHALL BE CONSISTENT WITH THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE MARYLAND DIAMONDBACK TERRAPIN TASK FORCE ISSUED IN 2001.” That would include shortening the harvest season and establishing a slot limit, if they do indeed follow the recommendations of 2001. Recommendations of the task force can be seen here http://www.terrapininstitute.org/ under “Press and Info.” Right now we need to get the bill through the Senate. It’s currently in the Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee YOU CAN CALL OR E-MAIL THE COMMITTEE OFFICE AT THE NUMBERS BELOW and ask them to support the bill. If you’d like to contact senators directly, go to this link and click on their names to get their contact info. http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdma…/com/02eco.html Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee Miller Senate Office Building, 2 West Wing 11 Bladen St., Annapolis, MD 21401 – 1991 — (410) 841-3661, (301) 858-3661 —– e-mail: ehe@… fax: (410) 841-3957, (301) 858-3957 Paula C. Hollinger, Chair (410) 841-3131, (301) 858-3131 Joan Carter Conway, Vice-Chair (410) 841-3145, (301) 858-3145 Gwendolyn T. Britt James Brochin Richard F. Colburn Roy P. Dyson Janet Greenip Sharon M. Grosfeld Andrew P. Harris Allan H. Kittleman Paul G. Pinsky Katrina
THE HEARING IS RE-SCHEDULED. We don’t know when the next date will be, but likely some time next week. THE HEARING IS NOT TOMORROW (Friday). The 2006 session ends April 10th. So, please still contact the senators in the Senate committee and let them know your thoughts on terrapin harvesting, but I’ve been told by the secretary in the committee that the hearing for HB 980 IS NOT scheduled for tomorrow. Katrina — In diamondbackterrapins@yahoogroups.com, “beautifuljoe1313”
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