Last week we posted Rep. Vang renews effort to ban Minnesota's unsustainable commercial turtle harvest. Since then, Bring Me The News' Melissa Turtinen reported Tuesday in Bill would end commercial turtle harvesting in Minnesota:
A bill aimed at ending the commercial turtle harvest in Minnesota has been reintroduced in the Minnesota Legislature.
Rep. Samantha Vang, DFL-Brooklyn Center, introduced the proposed legislation on Jan. 28. She introduced a similar measure in 2019.
The bill, H.F. 387, would ban commercial turtle harvesting in Minnesota, which is currently allowed for the common snapping turtle, the painted turtle and the spiny softshell turtle, which can be trapped and sold as pets or as meat, among other things, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
The state did place a moratorium on new turtle seller licenses in 2002, but the state is one of fewer than 25 states that still allow commercial harvesting, with the Minnesota Herpetological Society saying the 21 remaining licensed turtle sellers harvest thousands of turtles in Minnesota every year, and there's is no limit on how many turtles can be harvested. . . .
Read the excellent article at Bring Me The News.
On Wednesday, biologist Christopher Smith posted updated updated information about the harvest on the Minnesota Naturalist Facebook page:
Received updated commercial turtle harvest numbers from DNR today. Generally speaking, harvest in 2019 was similar to 2018. Harvest data for 2020 isn't available yet. Note HF 387 would finally put an end to commercial turtle harvest in Minnesota.
Go to the post to view selected information from the report.
Worth repeating from both Bring Me The News and our post:
Thank you. @RepSamanthaVang HF387, a bill that would ban commercial harvest of Minnesota's š¢turtles.š¢Harvest for personal use would still be allowed. Commerical harvest is unsustainableā Bill details at: https://t.co/ascWYSTpvo #SaveOurTurtles #turtles #mnleg #sustainability pic.twitter.com/b9C96l5R9u
ā Rep. Rick Hansen (@reprickhansen) January 31, 2021
Map: From the Minnesota Naturalist post.
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