Georgia’s 19 species of freshwater turtles face a variety of human-induced ills. Thousands die each year from being run over on highways while crawling to nesting areas and many perish when vital wetland habitats are lost to development.
The creatures, though, are about to get relief from another major danger -- being snatched from the wild for the commercial pet trade or being consumed as food and folk medicine in Asian countries.
The Georgia Board of Natural Resources is expected on Jan. 25 to adopt regulations to protect 13 of the state’s freshwater turtle species that have little or no protection now. Six others already are protected because they are rare, endangered or threatened.
The new regulations will, among other things, set turtle harvest limits; define what constitutes a commercial turtle collection enterprise; establish permit requirements; set rules on exporting, farming and selling turtles; specify unlawful activities regarding collection of turtles; and set specifications for turtle farms.
For the unprotected turtles, the rules can’t come soon enough. Hundreds of thousands of them -- especially softshell, cooters and sliders -- are being shipped each year from Georgia and other Southeastern states to Asian countries, primarily China.
China's huge appetite for turtles, served in soups and stews, has nearly eradicated the reptiles from many streams across Asia. Asian folk beliefs hold that eating turtles contributes to long life and sexual vigor.
Asia’s scarcity of freshwater turtles led importers to turn to the turtle-rich streams of the Southeast to fill the demand. But because turtles breed late in life and usually have low reproductive and nestling survival rates, they are in danger of being overharvested. Taking out just 5 percent of adult female turtles from an area can lead to serious population declines. Once a population is depleted, it may take many years to recover.
Fearing that their own turtles would become scarce, several Southern states, including Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina, adopted rules to protect their animals from commercial harvesting. Now, Georgia will join that group.
A 2010 statement from Georgia's leading herpetologists warned: "Overharvesting ... will ultimately require crisis conservation legislation, which will be more costly, burdensome and less effective than [enacting] regulation now."
Heeding the warning, the 2010 Georgia General Assembly passed a law authorizing the board, which sets policy for the Department of Natural Resources, to create regulations. The state’s Wildlife Action Plan, which guides efforts to conserve biological diversity, also recommended freshwater turtle protection.
In the sky: The moon, new on Jan. 23, will be a thin crescent low in the west just after dark the next day, said David Dundee, astronomer with Tellus Science Museum. Mercury is very low in the east just before dawn. Venus is low in the west just after dark and will appear near the moon on the evening of Jan. 26. Jupiter is high in the east at dusk. Mars and Saturn rise out of the east around midnight.
Turtles in Georgia
19 species of freshwater turtles live in Georgia
Unprotected species:
Chicken turtle
Common musk turtle
Common snapping turtle
Eastern mud turtle
Florida cooter
Florida red-bellied cooter
Florida softshell
Loggerhead musk turtle
Painted turtle
Pond slider
River cooter
Striped mud turtle
Spiny softshell
Protected species:
Alabama map turtle
Alligator snapping turtle
Barbour's map turtle
Bog turtle
Common map turtle
Spotted turtle
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