Jerry,
I have seen a pick up truck with the box full of turtles.
Jerry Neff wrote:
> Creating a law that protects turtles in Iowa should be something the
> next legislative session considers. Jerry
>
> -------------- Original message from Wallace Taylor
> <[log in to unmask]>: --------------
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From: Wtaylorlaw
> To: WTaylor784
> Sent: 7/20/2009 9:59:10 P.M. Central Daylight Time
> Subj: Fwd: USA Today article on turtle trapping
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeff Miller <[log in to unmask]>
> To: 'Jeff Miller' <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Mon, Jul 20, 2009 12:57 pm
> Subject: USA Today article on turtle trapping
>
> http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2009-07-19-turtle-hunt_N.htm
>
> *States rethink turtle trapping***
> **
> *July 19, 2009*
> *By Judy Keen
> <http://www.usatoday.com/community/tags/reporter.aspx?id=329>,
> USA TODAY*
> SHEFFIELD, Iowa — Using a long pole with a hook on one end,
> Eric Eckhardt grabs a partially submerged mesh trap and hauls
> it out of a farm pond. Inside are a small soft-shell turtle
> and a 12-pound snapping turtle.
> The live turtles go into tubs in the back of Eckhardt's truck.
> Later, after he checks other traps he set the previous
> evening, the turtles will be sold. He and his family eat
> turtle only occasionally.
> Trapping is a hobby for Eckhardt, and the money he earns — 75
> cents to $1.50 per turtle, depending on the type and season —
> helps pay for family vacations. He averages four turtles a day
> in the summer.
> For Eckhardt, 43, who works at a storm-door company, turtle
> trapping is a way to spend time outdoors with his son Cooper,
> 10, and daughter Georgi, 14. He isn't in it for the money, he
> says. Turtles "are fascinating," he says. "People make fun of
> that, but I don't care. I like them."
> If the Center for Biological Diversity, a non-profit
> conservation group based in Tucson, has its way, Eckhardt and
> others who trap wild turtles for commercial use will soon be
> out of business.
> The Center has asked Iowa and other states to end unlimited
> commercial harvesting of turtles. As demand for turtle meat
> increases in Asia, where it is a delicacy, prices are rising
> in the USA, says Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate for the
> group. That's leading to the depletion of freshwater wild
> turtle populations.
> "The demand for turtles in Asia is driving massive
> exploitation of wild turtles," says Chris Jones, a Huntsville,
> Texas, lawyer who works with the Center.
> In Iowa, the turtle population "is not an unlimited resource,
> but if harvesting is done20correctly, it is a sustainable
> resource," says Scott Gritters, a Department of Natural
> Resources fisheries biologist.
> In response to the Center for Biological Diversity's petition,
> the fisheries staff of the Iowa DNR reported that snapping
> turtles and painted turtles are "common, widespread and
> abundant" and recommended against a ban. The number of
> soft-shell turtles is declining and is "some cause for
> long-term concern," it said.
> Individual trappers aren't necessarily making more money
> because of high demand, Jones says, but buyers who purchase
> turtles from people such as Eckhardt and from commercial
> turtle farms sell to exporters for up to $15 a pound.
> Miller says 250,000 to 1 million turtles are exported each
> year and some are contaminated with mercury, pesticides and PCBs.
> *Lax rules for turtle harvesting*
> The Center for Biological Diversity and other environmental
> groups last year petitioned regulators in Florida, Georgia,
> Oklahoma and Texas to ban commercial turtle harvests. Oklahoma
> put a three-year moratorium in place, and Texas barred
> commercial harvests in public waters.
> This year, the center petitioned the only states with
> unrestricted harvests or rules it considers too loose:
> Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, South
> Carolina, Tennessee. This spring, South Carolina placed limits
> on turtle harvests.
> A ban on commercial harvesting of Florida's freshwater turtles
> takes effect Monday. Bill Turner, a Fish and Wildlife
> Conservation Commission turtle biologist, first heard reports
> of large turtle harvests from Florida lakes in March 2008. Up
> to 150,000 soft-shell turtles were exported from the state
> each year for the past five years, he says. There are 25
> active commercial turtle farms in the state.
> Because turtles breed late in their lifespan, Turner says, the
> removal of so many of them "destabilizes the population."
> Wisconsin reached the same conclusion in 1998, says Adam
> Collins of that state's Department of Natural Resources.
> Because of declining turtle populations, the state established
> a July-November turtle harvesting season and set a daily limit.
> "Our standards … are designed to ensure their long-term
> sustainability," he says.
> *In Iowa, 'the market is there' for turtles*
> Iowa's commercial harvesters are licensed and must report
> monthly the number of turtles they collect. Last year,
> Gritters says, they reported catching about 22,000 turtles, or
> 230,000 pounds. In Iowa, only snappers, soft-shell and painted
> turtles can be caught, using traps, hooks, or hooks and line.
> Recently, Gritters says, "there's been quite an influx of new
> trappers because the market i s there." As newcomers join the
> hunt — 175 commercial licenses were issued this year, up from
> 164 last year — more regulations likely will be needed, he says.
> Jake Robertson of Storm Lake, Iowa, who harvests 20,000 to
> 30,000 pounds of turtle a year, agrees. In the decade that
> he's been trapping turtles, Robertson has seen no population
> decline.
> Unlike fish, which are stocked in many Iowa lakes and streams,
> turtles are self-sustaining, he says. "Turtles are probably
> doing better than other aquatic species out there," Robertson
> says.
> Eckhardt, who has a dozen $50 traps, catches turtles on
> private property — with permission and often at the invitation
> of landowners who consider them a nuisance.
> Talk about the shrinking turtle population worries him, he
> says. "We've got to find out first how many are out there," he
> says, "and if they do need protecting, by all means protect them."
> *******************************************
> ** ** ** **
> ** **
> ** **
> ** **
> **Jeff Miller**
> ** **
> **Conservation Advocate**
> ** **
> **Center for Biological Diversity**
> ** **
> **351 California Street, Suite 600**
> ** **
> **San Francisco****, CA 94104**
> ** **
> **Phone: (415) 436-9682 x303**
> ** **
> **Fax: (415) 436-9683**
> ** **
> **Web site: www.biologicaldiversity.org**
> ** **
> ** **
> ** **
> **/At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the
> welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the
> existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild plants and
> animals. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because
> its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for
> all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of
> extinction. We do so through science, law, and creative media,
> with a focus on protecting the lands, waters, and climate that
> species need to survive. We want those who come after us to
> inherit a world where the wild is still alive./******
>
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