Tony Kennedy's article about commercial turtle harvesting, posted online of Saturday at the Star Tribune, is a good read as far as it goes. In Commercial turtle harvesting in Minnesota remains a worry for some, Kennedy reports:
A movement to abolish commercial turtle harvesting in Minnesota will continue to inch along despite a setback at the Legislature this year.
A measure to revoke the licenses of trappers who still target the animals passed the Minnesota House this year but got dropped in conference committee for the 2019 Fish & Game bill. Supporters are concerned that the turtle trade will further harm declining populations of the slow-to-mature animals. It’s a cause worth fighting for, they say.
“It’s not an issue we often think about when we think about the outdoors, but it’s something we will be pushing again next year,’’ said Rep. Fue Lee, DFL-Minneapolis, a co-author of the proposed ban. “We want to preserve and save the turtles. . . .’’
“Globally turtles are the most imperiled vertebrates,’’ said Christopher Smith, chairman of the conservation committee of the Minnesota Herpetological Society. “A commercial harvest is not sustainable.’’ . . .
Smith testified at the State Capitol a couple of months ago, telling lawmakers that more and more states are banning commercial harvest of turtles for meat or other use. Those moratoriums have added to trapping pressure in Minnesota to fill orders in the U.S. and abroad, he said. . . .
According to data that Smith obtained from the DNR, commercially licensed trappers in Minnesota took and sold as many as 20,000 painted turtles as recently as 2015. In the same year, about 1,800 spiny softshell turtles were harvested. The harvest of snappers has been on the decline without large upward spikes from year to year. The state’s annual snapping turtle harvest fell below 1,000 in 2009 and has not recovered. Twenty years ago trappers were peddling 5,000 snappers a year. . ..
One has to wonder what the result might have been in the legislature had the Star Tribune actually covered this issue back in March when Smith gave his testimony about the bill. While turtle have friends in scientists like Smith, they don't seem swift enough to hire lobbyists, but public concern about animals is nothing to sniff at--if the public is aware of what the problem is.
Bluestem posted about the bill in March in Vang bill will end MN commercial turtle selling and looked in April at a Senate measure to expand the state's turtle harvest in MN Senate omnibus environment and natural resources bill expands commercial turtle harvest. Perhaps that canyon of difference led to the ban getting dropped in conference committee.
Meanwhile, Kennedy closes his article with this:
[Jane Norris of the DNR] said the DNR won’t take a solid position on the issue until it meets with the state’s remaining trappers.
Well, that discussion should produce utterly surprising results.
Why do we suspect they won't concur with House bill co-sponsor Fue Lee:
We have to protect our 🐢!https://t.co/1ZaVSXwkxs
— Fue Lee (@RepFueLee) June 9, 2019
Photo: A common snapping turtle--which is not that common anymore--via the Minnesota Zoo.
If you appreciate our posts and original analysis, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.
Comments