NORTH CAROLINA WILDLIFE FEDERATION

RESOLUTION

REGULATING THE TAKE OF NORTH CAROLINA SNAPPING, MUD, AND MUSK TURTLES

WHEREAS, turtles are disappearing all over the world, making North Carolina turtles a valuable commodity for consumption abroad and in-state. This rapid threat to turtles is well documented and is known as “The Asian Turtle Crisis”; and,

WHEREAS, this is attributed to that demographic population’s increased demand for turtle meat as a prized delicacy food source primarily and due to secondarily presumed medicinal attributes; and,

WHEREAS, an increased turtle harvest is alarming from scientific wildlife management standpoints for the following reasons: turtles are slow to mature and have high egg and hatchling mortality; turtles are long-lived and depend on high survivorship of adults; turtles recruit few individuals annually; large numbers of reproductive adults are being lost to fragmented and disappearing habitats and road-kill; and,

WHEREAS, the threat of over harvesting turtles was justly recognized by the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission (hereto referred as “Wildlife Commission), conservation groups, and legislators as evidenced by the passage of Senate Bill 825 “Protect Certain Reptiles and Amphibians during the 2003-2004 session of the General Assembly; and,

WHEREAS, this legislation effectively protected Emydad and Trionychid turtles but did not pertain to snapping, mud, or musk turtles; and,

WHEREAS, the Wildlife Commission is attempting to address turtle harvest situation as evidenced by the proposal to limit the take of snapping, mud, and musk turtles to 100 per year and 10 per day; and,

WHEREAS, this proposal rightly addresses the allowance for continued personal harvest as a traditional and legitimate practice for private consumption; and,

WHEREAS, a limit of 100 of turtles in question would affect personal harvest for consumption, and this amount would over-accommodate this constituent base; and,

WHEREAS, a limit of 100 will not be effective in curbing the commercial harvesting of these turtles in question as market driven demand will escalate turtle values and lure in-state and out of state collectors; and,

WHEREAS, the North Carolina Wildlife Federation has expressed the aforementioned concerns in comments prepared and provided to the Wildlife Commission on said turtle take regulations; and,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, gathered at the Annual Meeting in Research Triangle Park, NC on February 23, 2008, reconfirms its support for the Wildlife Commission’s efforts to control the over hunting of snapping, musk, and mud turtles in North Carolina.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, in order that implementation of these desired rules may be effectively enforced while at the same time affording opportunities for reasonable taking for personal use, supports establishing a daily bag limit not to exceed 5 snapping, mud or musk turtles in aggregate, and possession limit of 10 of these species in aggregate.