We've been posting about Brooklyn Center DFL state representative Samantha Vang's bill to ban commercial turtle hunting in Minnesota with such posts as Updated commercial turtle harvest numbers from DNR underscore need for HF387 and Rep. Vang renews effort to ban Minnesota's unsustainable commercial turtle harvest.
Vang's bill will be heard in the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m. The remote hearing will be live streamed. We'll be watching it on HTV1, one of the Minnesota House's live channels.
The hearing has been promoted by the state's naturalist and wildlife communities' social media. A typical post on Facebook:
A bill to eliminate commercial turtle harvest in Minnesota (HF 387) will be heard in the House Environment and Natural...
Posted by Minnesota Herpetological Society on Monday, February 8, 2021
We're impressed by the written testimony submitted by scientists and citizens alike. Read the documents on the page for the hearing here.
The case for protecting turtles from commercial harvest is laid out in this slideshow by herpetologist Christopher E. Smith:
Protect Our Turtles uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd
At St. Croix 360, Greg Seitz reported in Legislators seek to stop commercial turtle harvesting in Minnesota:
A bill introduced at the Minnesota State Capitol this week would put an end to an industry that has held on in Minnesota longer than most Midwestern states. Ten months out of the year, permitted trappers harvest several species of turtle, for meat and the pet trade.
Wildlife advocates say the practice is outdated, and harmful to turtle populations. H.F. 387, introduced by Rep. Samantha Vang, would put a halt to it. The second-term lawmaker previously got the legislation through the House in 2019, but not the Senate.
The life cycles and reproduction strategies of turtles makes them uniquely affected by trapping. . . .
When trappers take a mature turtle from its home waters, they remove one of the few and the strong that have survived while their brothers and sisters probably did not.
“Commercial harvest is unsustainable for turtle populations and regulations need to be updated to reflect our understanding of turtle population management,” the Minnesota Herpetological Society said.
A 2010 study from the University of Minnesota found fewer turtles in lakes where commercial turtle harvest occurred than in lakes without trapping. Minnesota is one of fewer than 25 states that still allow commercial harvest, with Iowa the only neighboring state that permits it.
...A petition has also been launched asking the DNR to support halting commercial harvest. When the bill was introduced previously, the agency did not take a stance on it, saying it didn’t have enough data.
We're looking forward to the hearing on Tuesday.
Photo: In written testimony submitted to the Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee, a family living on Stingy Lake Stingy Lake north of Nashwauk told the tale of the turtle Baby T that they caught and returned to the lake.
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