Conservation groups have filed a petition with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources asking the state to require bycatch-reduction devices on all blue crab pots moving forward.
Filed by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), the Port Royal Sound Foundation, and Lowcountry Ecological, the petition claims that diamondback terrapins – a species of turtle found along the East and Gulf coasts of the United States – get stuck in the blue crab pots and drown. The groups claim the terrapin population has dropped 75 percent over the last half century, and roughly 60,000 to 80,000 are trapped and killed in crab traps annually.
“South Carolina’s diamondback terrapins are drowning in blue crab pots every day even though there’s a simple, inexpensive way to prevent this ongoing tragedy,” CBD Senior Wildlife Advocate Tara Zuardo said in a release. “It’s time for the Palmetto State to take basic steps to ensure that crab traps don’t kill even more of these imperiled turtles.”
Multiple states along the East Coast already require bycatch-reduction devices (BRD) on either recreational or commercial crab pots, and the groups’ petition asks South Carolina to follow suit and require the devices in all commercial and recreational pots placed near-shore.
“Experts have studied BRDs of various sizes in several geographic regions within the terrapin’s range. All studies found that crab pots with BRDs successfully limited terrapin bycatch to some degree, ranging from 12 to 100 percent effectiveness, with smaller BRDs generally being more effective than larger BRDs,” the groups noted in the petition.
The state has 30 days to respond to the petition.
Separately, CBD and other conservation groups petitioned NOAA Fisheries to list terrapins under the Endangered Species Act.
