THE LEDGER (Lakeland, Florida) 11 March 08 Turtles Too Tasty for Own Good
The time may be coming when freshwater turtles will merit a tag as well.
There's some evidence that many of these species, which historically had been considered common, may be in danger because of a combination of habitat loss and increased commercial harvesting.
Florida is not the first state in the Southeast where wildlife officials have raised these issues. Officials in North Carolina and South Carolina have already limited harvests to protect freshwater turtles
But don't look for any additional restrictions on freshwater turtle harvesting in Florida in the near future.
State wildlife officials are still trying to figure out what's happening with turtle populations from what I was told by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Pat Behnke.
One of the big obstacles to restricting commercial harvest is that any rules must be based on documented population threats and that's the rub.
Doing this requires having something called baseline information. That provides a standard of comparison for analyzing trends.
When you say wildlife is declining, as many people do, the logical question to ask is "How do you know?''
How you know is that you have population data from one point in time and you can compare that with the results of subsequent surveys and see what's happening.
That may sound simple, but it isn't.
You have to figure out, for instance, where to conduct the surveys, how to conduct the surveys, what qualifications survey participants should possess, etc. You may also want to know the reproductive success of the animals that are the focus of your study, the conditions of the habitat they occupy and many other factors that could affect their ability to survive.
You might wonder why biologists are in the dark about Florida turtle populations. However, conducting population studies of species that are considered common usually isn't a high priority in a state where we have so many uncommon species that attract and merit the attention of biologists.
The biologist's lament is often "So many species, so little time.''
Behnke said the impetus for the study was a report of an unusually large number of turtles being harvested from a lake in the Gainesville area and some growing concern over the past decade by biologists that something may be happening to freshwater turtles.
There's been some reports that one of the things that's happening is a lot of turtles are being harvested for Asian markets, where turtle meat is popular.
Behnke said FWC's main concern is whether the harvest, regardless of where the meat is being marketed, is sustainable.
She said she doesn't expect any proposals to come up for discussion until next year.
That is probably optimistic.
I would cite the example of the gopher tortoise.
This is a species for which there was a large amount of population data. Nevertheless, it took years to finally end the practice of burying them alive to make way for new development in their former habitat.
That was because there were large commercial interests involved that were prepared to challenge state biologists' data and conclusions from that data every step of the way. It will be interesting to see what kind of clout the turtle meat industry has.
By the way, a little over a third of Florida's 18 freshwater turtle species already have some kind of protection.
The law limits possession to two Barbour's map turtle, Escambia map turtle, diamondback terrapin, river cooter and loggerhead musk turtle and one alligator snapping turtle, and prohibits buying and selling of these species.
In addition, the Lower Keys population of the striped mud turtle is classified as an endangered species.
There are closed seasons for killing softshell turtles or river cooters, or collecting their eggs, and there are restrictions on harvest methods for all turtles that it is legal to harvest.
With any luck, state wildlife officials will be able to come up a clearer picture of the status of Florida's freshwater turtle population while there's still time to prevent another environmental calamity from occurring.
A management plan is always better than a recovery plan.
Turtles Too Tasty for Own Good