New Regs Still Don't Go Far Enough to Safeguard Wild Turtle Populations
ATLANTA -Press Release -Center for Biological Diversity-1/26/12- The Georgia Department of Natural Resources Board of Directors today unanimously approved its first-ever state rules regulating the commercial collection of wild freshwater turtles. Georgia had been the only state in the Southeast without limitations on harvest or regulations on the export, farming and sale of native freshwater turtles. The new rules help address population declines of native southern turtle populations caused by unregulated harvest and export for international food markets.
"Georgia is clamping down on the unrestrained strip-mining of native turtles to supply food markets in Asia," said Jeff Miller, a conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, which in 2008 sought a ban on commercial turtle collecting in Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and Texas. "The new regulations are a welcome step but don't go far enough to protect wild turtles, since the harvest limits are far above what's sustainable."
Turtle traders in the United States catch and export more than 2 million wild-caught freshwater turtles each year, mostly to supply food and medicinal markets in Asia, where soaring turtle consumption rates have decimated the native turtles. Turtles sold as food can be contaminated with mercury, PCBs, and pesticides. Adult turtles are also taken from the wild to breed hatchlings for the international pet trade. This unsustainable harvest is rapidly depleting native turtle populations already suffering from other threats like habitat loss, water pollution and road mortality. The Southeast became a hotspot of turtle harvest due to large turtle diversity and lack of state regulations on harvest.
"Georgia's previous wildlife laws treated native turtles not protected by state or federal law as no better than pests, so this is an improvement," said Miller. "However, lax limits and exemptions will be exploited by commercial harvesters profitably exporting turtles to Asia. A ban on commercial harvest is needed to fully protect turtles, and the potential health risks of consuming turtles contaminated with toxins need to be addressed."
The new regulations set annual catch limits of 100 turtles per year for the Florida softshell turtle, spiny softshell turtle and river cooter; 300 per year for the common snapping turtle, painted turtle, eastern mud turtle and loggerhead musk turtle; and 500 per year for the pond slider. There is no possession limit for freshwater turtles, but anyone who harvests more than 10 turtles at a time needs a commercial turtle permit issued by the Department of Natural Resources. Collecting freshwater turtle eggs from the wild is now prohibited, as is importing live native freshwater turtles or eggs from another state unless they were lawfully acquired in that state. The permits will require the reporting of harvest numbers and species trapped.
"With extremely high catch allowed and no limit on the number of permits, the Department of Natural Resources can provide no assurances that turtle harvest will be sustainable, since turtles have low reproductive and survival rates," said Miller. "There are several troublesome exemptions, and enforcement depends on a self-reporting system with no mechanism for ensuring that harvesters even stay within those limits."
Exemptions allow issuance of "catch-out" authorizations that exempt all harvest limits for private ponds, let permit holders take twice the annual quota for two years to expand turtle farms and give "nuisance wildlife" permits to posses more than 10 turtles for up to 72 hours. Other problems are the potential for incidental deaths of non-target protected turtle species that overlap with more common species in hoopnet traps, the difficulty of effectively enforcing the limits and the inability of trappers and law enforcement to distinguish protected species from those legal to harvest (such as distinguishing alligator snappers from common snappers and Barbour's map turtles from pond sliders and river cooters).
Of the 19 species of freshwater turtles native to Georgia, six (the Alabama map turtle, alligator snapping turtle, Barbour's map turtle, bog turtle, common map turtle and spotted turtle) were already protected from harvest by federal or state laws before the new rules were approved. Although eight species are now subject to new catch limits, five species (the chicken turtle, common musk turtle, Florida cooter, Florida red-bellied cooter and striped mud turtle) are not protected at all.
In 2005 Georgia discussed the need for turtle regulations in the state wildlife management plan, but took no action. As other Southeastern states began lowering catch limits and tightening up harvest regulations, turtle trappers moved into Georgia to take advantage of its lack of harvest rules. In 2008, the Center for Biological Diversity and Georgia conservation groups petitioned for a ban on commercial turtle harvest in all public and private waters, but the Department of Natural Resources claimed it lacked authority.
The Center has also petitioned to list several species of imperiled freshwater turtles under the Endangered Species Act and filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requesting steps to end unsustainable international trade in freshwater turtles through protections under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Flora and Fauna for 20 species of native freshwater turtles - the alligator snapping turtle, spotted turtle, Blanding's turtle, diamondback terrapin, three species of soft-shell turtles and 13 species of map turtles.
Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Georgia. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Georgia allows hunting of endangered species
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia allows hunting of rare animal species, which could lead to their extinction, environmentalists claim.
The legislative changes will also allow hunting in protected areas.
Hunting and protection of species is regulated by a kind of laws used under the Soviet Union called normative acts and decrees. The law doesn’t directly says one can kill an animal which is on the Red List, but new normative acts now say that authorities may decide what number of animals can be allowed to be killed.
“The decision about allowed amount of harvesting endangered wild animals is made by the Environment Minister based on an individual administrative-legal act,” the law says.
The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources issued a decree which now allows obtaining animals of certain species, including animals that are on the Red List, a list compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, showing the extinction risk of species.
The ministry defines the allowed amount of harvesting certain animals, including ones that are about extinction. Specifically, the following: coypu – 194 animals, rabbits – 615 animals, badger – 168 animals, forest marten – 157 animals, the stone marten – 157 animals, the wolf – 120 animals, jackal – 1453 animals, foxes – 162 animals, wild cat – 77 animals, wild pigs – 189 animals, roe – 417 animals, raccoon – 96 animals, pheasant – 416 animals, partridge – 713 animals, francolin – 50 animals.
Lasha Chkhartishvili, member of the Conservative Party and founder of Greenpeace Supporters Group says that it’s completely unclear why the Energy Ministry should issue such a normative act at all, it should be the competence of the environment ministry.
Georgia’s Ministry of Environment Protection was split up and nearly dissolved one year ago. Responsibility for natural resources was transferred to the Energy Ministry, while the task of overseeing protected areas was handed to the Ministry of Economic and Sustainable Development. The Environmental Protection Inspectorate was dissolved, and the only remaining responsibility for the Environment Ministry was to monitor air pollution. It was also physically moved and now shares offices with the Energy Ministry in Tbilisi’s Ortachala district.
The hunting season is getting closer and the adopted changes create serious danger to the animals if countermeasures are not taken soon. Greenpeace Supporters Group held a rally on Thursday in front of the parliament building to protest the changes in the legislation that they say will legalize hunting in protected territories and of animal species on the Red List.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Rattlesnake roundup in Georgia now a humane wildlife festival
Calls for final roundup to do the same
January 2012: Georgia could soon say goodbye to the outdated ‘rattlesnake roundups'. The Evans County Wildlife Club in Claxton, Georgia, have changed their annual round-up to a wildlife festival where snakes will be celebrated rather than collected in their hundreds and butchered for their meat and skin.
The Center for Biological Diversity, Coastal Plains Institute, Protect All Living Species and One More Generation have sent a letter to the club, congratulating them on the decision, and are also presenting a 5,000-strong petition to Whigham Coummunity Club, which hosts the state's last remaining rattlesnake roundup.
‘We're so happy the rattlesnake roundup in Claxton is being switched to a humane event that celebrates these great native animals and recognizes the importance of saving them,' said Collette Adkins Giese, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity who works to protect rare and vanishing reptiles and amphibians. ‘The Whigham Community Club needs to follow suit. It needs to recognize that massacres of endangered animals are just wrong, and clearly the wrong message to send to young people about our relationship to the natural world.'
'All wildlife has a valuable place in nature'The Evans County Wildlife Club is replacing its annual rattlesnake roundup with the Claxton Rattlesnake and Wildlife Festival, which will feature displays of the imperilled eastern diamondback rattlesnake and other native wildlife. Educational programmes, entertainment and a variety of other activities will be offered at the event, held during the second weekend in March.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Sea turtles nesting at record rate in Georgia
Sea turtles nesting at record rate in Georgia
Savannah Morning News, July 9, 2011, Mary Landers
Sea turtles are nesting in record numbers on Georgia beaches this summer. As of Friday, 1,590 nests, almost all from loggerhead sea turtles, had been recorded from Cumberland to Tybee islands.
That's ahead of the pace of 2010, which was also a stellar year for turtles. There are about three weeks remaining in the nesting season, which typically begins here in May. Georgia Sea Turtle Program Coordinator Mark Dodd predicted the total number of nests could reach close to 2,100.
"We expect to go way beyond last year," said Dodd, a senior wildlife biologist with the Department of Natural Resources. "And last year was a great year."
Georgia recorded 1,771 nests last year.
Most of the state's nests are from loggerhead seaa turtles, but 11 have been identified as leatherback nests, three are green turtle nests, and another nine are undetermined. Leatherbacks are a tropical species finding its way farther north as ocean and global temperatures increase, Dodd said.
Chatham County's Ossabaw Island has recorded 372 nests, putting it far ahead of the much larger and usual leader, Cumberland Island. Dodd can't say why.
"I would have never expected that many nests on Ossabaw," he said.
Most nesting beaches in Georgia are patrolled daily, some by paid staffers hired for the summers to live on remote barrier islands as "turtle interns." But there are also legions of volunteers that look for nests, protect them from predators and guard hatchlings when they emerge. Their efforts and other conservation measures, such as turtle excluder devices that keep turtles from drowning in shrimp nets, appear to be making a difference, Dodd said.
"We're hoping that the long-term decline has bottomed out," he said. "The last couple years they've started to increase their nesting. And it's going to be another good year. We're hopeful this is the beginning of the recovery."
Tybee found solid evidence this month that its efforts to attract nesting turtles are paying off. Over the winter Chatham County retrofitted the lights on the Tybee pavilion to make them more turtle-friendly. Bright lights can disorient turtles.
Recently a turtle volunteer discovered loggerhead sea turtle tracks that led directly up the beach under the pier. That turtle didn't actually lay eggs, instead looping up and back in what turtle researchers call a false crawl.
"Although there were no eggs, it was nice to see a crawl near the pier," wrote Tybee sea turtle project coordinator Tammy Smith in an email announcing the crawl. "It is evident that the new lights have helped darken the beach."
As of Friday, Tybee had seven nests recorded.
As nesting winds down, hatching gears up. The first three nests hatched Tuesday on Sea Island and Ossabaw. Hatching typically continues through October.
Savannah Morning News, July 9, 2011, Mary Landers
Sea turtles are nesting in record numbers on Georgia beaches this summer. As of Friday, 1,590 nests, almost all from loggerhead sea turtles, had been recorded from Cumberland to Tybee islands.
That's ahead of the pace of 2010, which was also a stellar year for turtles. There are about three weeks remaining in the nesting season, which typically begins here in May. Georgia Sea Turtle Program Coordinator Mark Dodd predicted the total number of nests could reach close to 2,100.
"We expect to go way beyond last year," said Dodd, a senior wildlife biologist with the Department of Natural Resources. "And last year was a great year."
Georgia recorded 1,771 nests last year.
Most of the state's nests are from loggerhead seaa turtles, but 11 have been identified as leatherback nests, three are green turtle nests, and another nine are undetermined. Leatherbacks are a tropical species finding its way farther north as ocean and global temperatures increase, Dodd said.
Chatham County's Ossabaw Island has recorded 372 nests, putting it far ahead of the much larger and usual leader, Cumberland Island. Dodd can't say why.
"I would have never expected that many nests on Ossabaw," he said.
Most nesting beaches in Georgia are patrolled daily, some by paid staffers hired for the summers to live on remote barrier islands as "turtle interns." But there are also legions of volunteers that look for nests, protect them from predators and guard hatchlings when they emerge. Their efforts and other conservation measures, such as turtle excluder devices that keep turtles from drowning in shrimp nets, appear to be making a difference, Dodd said.
"We're hoping that the long-term decline has bottomed out," he said. "The last couple years they've started to increase their nesting. And it's going to be another good year. We're hopeful this is the beginning of the recovery."
Tybee found solid evidence this month that its efforts to attract nesting turtles are paying off. Over the winter Chatham County retrofitted the lights on the Tybee pavilion to make them more turtle-friendly. Bright lights can disorient turtles.
Recently a turtle volunteer discovered loggerhead sea turtle tracks that led directly up the beach under the pier. That turtle didn't actually lay eggs, instead looping up and back in what turtle researchers call a false crawl.
"Although there were no eggs, it was nice to see a crawl near the pier," wrote Tybee sea turtle project coordinator Tammy Smith in an email announcing the crawl. "It is evident that the new lights have helped darken the beach."
As of Friday, Tybee had seven nests recorded.
As nesting winds down, hatching gears up. The first three nests hatched Tuesday on Sea Island and Ossabaw. Hatching typically continues through October.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Gators Thriving Along Georgia's coast
KBTX (Bryan, Georgia) 12/13/10
Brunswick, Ga.: There's a population explosion on the Georgia coast -- of alligators.
The reptiles are being spotted on roads, in backyard pools and even sunbathing on the beaches. The Brunswick News reports state wildlife officials put the number of gators at well over 200,000.
Unregulated hunting and poaching pushed the creatures to endangered status in the late 60's. Now, there are so many gators, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources is proposing a management plan.
The plan includes using money from gator hunting permits to fund wildlife watching areas.
From: Herp Digest, Volume # 10 Issue # 55 12/21/10
Brunswick, Ga.: There's a population explosion on the Georgia coast -- of alligators.
The reptiles are being spotted on roads, in backyard pools and even sunbathing on the beaches. The Brunswick News reports state wildlife officials put the number of gators at well over 200,000.
Unregulated hunting and poaching pushed the creatures to endangered status in the late 60's. Now, there are so many gators, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources is proposing a management plan.
The plan includes using money from gator hunting permits to fund wildlife watching areas.
From: Herp Digest, Volume # 10 Issue # 55 12/21/10
Gators Thriving Along Georgia's coast
KBTX (Bryan, Georgia) 12/13/10
Brunswick, Ga.: There's a population explosion on the Georgia coast -- of alligators.
The reptiles are being spotted on roads, in backyard pools and even sunbathing on the beaches. The Brunswick News reports state wildlife officials put the number of gators at well over 200,000.
Unregulated hunting and poaching pushed the creatures to endangered status in the late 60's. Now, there are so many gators, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources is proposing a management plan.
The plan includes using money from gator hunting permits to fund wildlife watching areas.
From: Herp Digest, Volume # 10 Issue # 55 12/21/10
Brunswick, Ga.: There's a population explosion on the Georgia coast -- of alligators.
The reptiles are being spotted on roads, in backyard pools and even sunbathing on the beaches. The Brunswick News reports state wildlife officials put the number of gators at well over 200,000.
Unregulated hunting and poaching pushed the creatures to endangered status in the late 60's. Now, there are so many gators, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources is proposing a management plan.
The plan includes using money from gator hunting permits to fund wildlife watching areas.
From: Herp Digest, Volume # 10 Issue # 55 12/21/10
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