Please Respond To Letter Concerning Ending The Harvest Of Terrapins In New York To [email protected]
Dear Scientists, Conservationists,
Diamondback terrapins face diverse and serious threats along our coasts, including habitat loss, entanglement in fishing gear, road mortality, and overharvest. Although most states in the terrapin’s range have ended commercial harvest, New York still allows harvest of terrapins during a nine-month open season. Fortunately, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently announced that it is informally considering a new idea for terrapin management—a full closure of the hunting season.
It is crucial that the Department now hear from scientists who support a complete ban on terrapin harvesting in New York’s waters.
Pasted below is a letter the Center for Biological Diversity will send to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. If you would like to be included, please reply to [email protected] by December 13 with your: name, title or degree, affiliation (if you’d like to identify it), and location.
Please also share this message with other scientists who may want to add their names.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Elise Bennett
Staff Attorney
Center for Biological Diversity
Letter Text:
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Bureau of Wildlife
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-4754
[email protected]
Re: Close the Terrapin Hunting Season in New York
We, the undersigned scientists—with collective expertise in conservation biology, ecology, population dynamics, wildlife management and other areas relevant to turtle conservation—urge the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to follow through with its informal rulemaking proposal and amend its regulations to end the harvest of wild terrapins in state waters.
Because diamondback terrapins depend on high adult survivorship, long lives, and repeated reproductive opportunities to exist, loss of even a small number of terrapins can result in drastic population declines. In fact, scientists have repeatedly found that due to their life history characteristics, turtles cannot sustain any significant level of wild collection without suffering population declines.
Under current New York regulations, holders of a diamondback terrapin license may take unlimited numbers of wild terrapins during a nine-month open season. The science shows that this policy is at odds with successful conservation of the species. To ensure the health and survival of New York’s terrapins and the estuaries they inhabit, we ask that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation promptly close the harvesting season for terrapins.
Sincerely,
Collette Adkins
M.S. Wildlife Conservation; Ph.D. Candidate in Conservation Biology
Center for Biological Diversity
Minneapolis, MN
[email protected]
Dr. Russell Burke
Department of Biology
Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY
[email protected]
Dear Scientists, Conservationists,
Diamondback terrapins face diverse and serious threats along our coasts, including habitat loss, entanglement in fishing gear, road mortality, and overharvest. Although most states in the terrapin’s range have ended commercial harvest, New York still allows harvest of terrapins during a nine-month open season. Fortunately, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently announced that it is informally considering a new idea for terrapin management—a full closure of the hunting season.
It is crucial that the Department now hear from scientists who support a complete ban on terrapin harvesting in New York’s waters.
Pasted below is a letter the Center for Biological Diversity will send to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. If you would like to be included, please reply to [email protected] by December 13 with your: name, title or degree, affiliation (if you’d like to identify it), and location.
Please also share this message with other scientists who may want to add their names.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Elise Bennett
Staff Attorney
Center for Biological Diversity
Letter Text:
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
Bureau of Wildlife
625 Broadway
Albany, NY 12233-4754
[email protected]
Re: Close the Terrapin Hunting Season in New York
We, the undersigned scientists—with collective expertise in conservation biology, ecology, population dynamics, wildlife management and other areas relevant to turtle conservation—urge the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to follow through with its informal rulemaking proposal and amend its regulations to end the harvest of wild terrapins in state waters.
Because diamondback terrapins depend on high adult survivorship, long lives, and repeated reproductive opportunities to exist, loss of even a small number of terrapins can result in drastic population declines. In fact, scientists have repeatedly found that due to their life history characteristics, turtles cannot sustain any significant level of wild collection without suffering population declines.
Under current New York regulations, holders of a diamondback terrapin license may take unlimited numbers of wild terrapins during a nine-month open season. The science shows that this policy is at odds with successful conservation of the species. To ensure the health and survival of New York’s terrapins and the estuaries they inhabit, we ask that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation promptly close the harvesting season for terrapins.
Sincerely,
Collette Adkins
M.S. Wildlife Conservation; Ph.D. Candidate in Conservation Biology
Center for Biological Diversity
Minneapolis, MN
[email protected]
Dr. Russell Burke
Department of Biology
Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY
[email protected]