Post by Gage on Jul 10, 2006 15:19:10 GMT -5
IF&W Outlaws Commercial Harvest of Snapping Turtles
By Phyllis Austin, Maine Environmental News (www.meepi.org). July 26, 2002.
IF&W proposed ending the commercial take because little is known about the current biological status of Maine snappers.
Despite a plea from Maine’s top turtle trapper, John Rogers, the advisory council of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W) has voted unanimously to outlaw the commercial harvest of snapping turtles.
Commissioner Lee Perry had been a consistent supporter of a ban, and at the council’s meeting on July 25, he urged them to ensure the sustainability of snappers, which don’t breed until 20 years in the north. "While I have no reason to believe that snapping turtles are threatened with extinction in Maine, there is reason to be concerned about the viability of the population," he said..................
