Maine to End Turtle Kills
After months of review, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has formally proposed a complete closure of the commercial "harvest" of snapping turtles. This proposal retracts an earlier proposal to continue the killing on a limited basis. The policy change follows overwhelming public support for ending the turtle slaughter and the Department's own biological review of the issue. Snapping turtle populations are extremely vulnerable to human-caused mortality, because they depend on the female's long life to ensure reproductive success. Before finalizing the decision, the Department will be holding a final public comment period, from now until July 18, 2002. We expect the trapping community to flood the Department with letters of opposition, so it is essential that we support the proposal to completely close the commercial harvest of snapping turtles.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Send your comments in support of the closure of the snapping turtle season to:

Andrea Erskine
Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
#41 SHS
Augusta, ME 04333-0041
207-287-5201
Fax: 207-287-6395
E-mail: andrea.erskine@state.me.us (Subject line: snapping turtle rules)

http://www.hsus.org/ace/14501

Turtle Quandary: Endangered Species Complicates Car Debate On Galveston
Island
By TONY FREEMANTLE/Copyright 6/2/2002 Houston Chronicle
The turtles were just doing what turtles are programmed to do.
It being their breeding season, they waddled ashore on Galveston Island in
the early weeks of June, laid their eggs in the sand and then, presumably
with nary a pang of maternal guilt, slipped back into the depths of the
Gulf of Mexico.

But these were no ordinary turtles, and this was no ordinary beach on which
they chose to heed their primal urges.
These were endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles and, because there is no
record of them ever nesting on the Upper Texas Coast, their visit was
heralded as another sign the species is clawing its way back from the brink
of extinction.

It also just happens that, for reasons known only to themselves, they
blithely chose to nest on the last stretch of Galveston Island beach where
it is still legal to drive one's car and where, if left alone, their
offspring had as much chance of surviving as a dog on a Houston freeway.
AP Kemp's Ridley sea turtles return to the sea in this file photo.
Federal marine biologists from Galveston immediately swooped in and
collected the eggs, as well as those in nests dug by two other ridley
turtles farther down the coast -- also on beaches open to traffic -- and
flew them to a turtle sanctuary at Padre Island National Seashore where
they will be incubated, hatched and released.

Cars on beaches notwithstanding, this has been an outstanding three-month
breeding season for ridley turtles along the Texas coast. As of Monday,
officially the last day of the breeding season, 34 nests had been found,
more than twice the previous record of 16, which was set in 1999.
But the fact the turtles have started showing up north of Mustang Island
for the first time in anyone's memory -- in addition to Galveston, two
turtles nested on Quintana Beach and the Matagorda Peninsula -- has left
scientists feeling somewhat ambivalent: excited by their appearance, yet
apprehensive about their chances of surviving without a plan in place to
protect them.

"This was such an unexpected event," said Donna Shaver, a federal biologist
in charge of the sanctuary at Padre Island. "It's good news that the
numbers of Kemp's ridleys on the Texas coast are increasing. But it shows
that we have to now expand our public education and detection efforts to
the upper Texas coast because eventually it's not going to be feasible to
move the eggs."

Since the lower coast has been the center of Texas' efforts to revive the
ridley turtle, and since historically that is where they have nested, there
is an extensive, well-organized effort to protect them there. During the
nesting season in April, May and June, the beaches are patrolled by
volunteers looking for the animals. If a nest is found, it is either
protected where it is and carefully watched, or the eggs are moved to an
established corral.

On the upper coast there is no such plan. The turtle that nested on the
Matagorda Peninsula discovered that to her peril when she was run over by a
car on her way back to the Gulf. She did not appear badly hurt and swam
away when put into water, said Andrea Cannon, a biologist with the National
Marine Fisheries Service in Galveston. The first turtle came ashore on the
upper coast at Quintana on May 23. Two nested on June 9, one on Galveston
and one on Matagorda, and the last one came ashore on Galveston on June 10.

The two Galveston turtles could not have timed their arrival better -- they
landed right in the middle of a controversial process by the city of
Galveston to comply with the state's Open Beaches Act. That law says the
public must have adequate access to the beaches, including automobiles. The
state charges that Galveston does not provide it. Patrick Dugan owns about
1,000 acres of undeveloped land on the western edge of Galveston Island
fronted by the last 3.5 miles of beach that is still open to free-flowing
traffic. He is trying to get the beach closed to cars. In his mind, and in
the minds of those who support his efforts, the turtles offer a perfect,
and serendipitous, reason for a ban. "I would make the case that beaches
open to unmanaged vehicle traffic is potentially not beneficial to turtle
nesting," said Peter Ravella, a former director of the General Land
Office's coastal management program who is now assisting Dugan as a
consultant. Dugan has offered to provide 200 acres along San Luis Pass as a
sanctuary, as well as access roads and parking for pedestrians as required
by state law, if the city will close the beach to traffic, Ravella said.
Since the turtles arrived, Ravella said Dugan has indicated he would be
willing also to include them in his plans.

"The idea of having the turtles and having the sanctuary goes hand in hand
with our idea that you can have development that is environmentally sound
and economically viable," Ravella said.

Wendy O'Donohoe, the head of Galveston's planning and community development
department, said the city is drawing up a plan that will address access for
pedestrians and vehicles to all of Galveston's beaches, not just the
stretch along Dugan's property, with the purpose of complying with state
law. The presence of the turtles, she said, does not alter the equation.

Thank you to Allen Salzberg of HerpDigest for providing this article. http://www.herpdigest.org

From: "rjparcelles" <rjparcelles@yahoo.com>
Subject: Lights out as hatching season arrives for baby turtles

Lights out as hatching season arrives for baby turtles

By Neil Santaniello
Staff Writer

Sun-Sentinel.com

Posted July 8 2002

http://sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-phatch08jul08.story

This month and next, thousands of baby sea turtles should
be digging out of
their buried beach nests at night. Under the pale
moonlight, they'll
scramble across the sand to begin their life at sea.

The bulk of those hatchlings-- less than 2 inches long when
they dig their
way out of a nest -- will surface in July and August. That
means it's
especially important to keep beaches dark during the next
several weeks,
county environmental officials say.

They're urging residents to obey turtle-protection laws and
extinguish, dim
or redirect artificial lights along the coast that become
fatal lures for
baby sea turtles.

Those lights can draw hatchlings away from their natural
destination -- the
Atlantic Ocean -- and to their deaths in streets, parking
lots and sand
dunes, sea turtle experts say.

"Beachfront lighting is the No. 1 killer of hatchlings,"
said Kirt Rusenko,
who supervises the sea turtle program at the Gumbo Limbo
Nature Center in
Boca Raton. "Turn the lights out."

Officials also warn people not to break federal law by
pocketing any
hatchlings they might find. Those who do that occasionally
run into trouble
keeping the hatchling healthy. They then drop the turtle
off at a nature
center and claim to have just found it, Rusenko said. That
doesn't fool the
turtle experts.

"The soft shell lets you know really well they were getting
a bad diet" in
captivity, he said.

About 16,000 turtle nests are found in Palm Beach County
beaches alone
every year, second only to Brevard County. In 2001, Palm
Beach County had
227 cases of hatchlings wandering in the wrong direction,
affecting an
estimated 7,443 baby turtles, said Paul Davis, sea turtle
program
coordinator for the Palm Beach County's Department of
Environmental
Resources Management.

Around Florida last year, there were 739 instances of
disorientation
affecting 28,587 baby sea turtles, according to the Florida
Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Condominium lights were cited as problem in 30 percent of
the disoriented
hatchling cases. Street lights accounted for 20 percent,
and glowing skies
from development or other artificial light sources were
responsible in 24
percent of all turtle disorientations, commission figures
for 2001 show.

All the county's coastal cities and beaches in
unincorporated areas are
covered by laws that prohibit visible light on the beach
during the summer
turtle-nesting period, Davis said.

Threatened loggerhead sea turtles dominate the nesting in
South Florida,
followed by much smaller numbers of green and leatherback
turtles. So far
this season, 400 loggerhead turtles have nested on Boca
Raton's 5 miles of
coast, which can get more than twice that number of sea
turtle nests during
some seasons. Nesting starts in March and tapers off
dramatically by the
end of July.

The 120 or so eggs loggerheads lay in each nest incubate
for 50 to 60 days
inside the sand. Loggerhead hatchlings emerge only when the
sand cools down
at night or sometimes when thunderstorms and overcast skies
lower sand
temperatures, Rusenko said. Once they reach the water,
hatchlings are
vulnerable to predators that include fish, crabs and birds.

They'll swim frantically, though, until they reach oceanic
rafts of
drifting sargassum, where they can hide and safely grow
larger.

"In a good year we'll have 100,000 hatchlings going out to
sea," Rusenko
said.

Boca Raton began to see its first waves of tiny loggerhead
hatchlings two
weeks ago, Rusenko said.

"Right now, we're seeing between one and three nests a
night hatch," he
said. Later this month, that should peak at almost a dozen
nests per night,
he said.

Because of a rainy, cloudy June, nests likely will yield a
lot more males
than usual, Rusenko said. Sand temperature determines the
sex of incubating
sea turtles. Cooler sand means more males, while warmer
sand is more likely
to produce females.

# # #

Neil Santaniello can be reached at
nsantaniello@sun-sentinel.com or
561-243-6625.

http://sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-phatch08jul08.story

Outdoors journal: turtles
http://www.startribune.com/stories/503/2903411.html


Published Jun 14, 2002
All turtles are born from eggs, and the month of June is egg-laying time in Minnesota.

Eggs usually are laid in open areas because warmth from the sun is important for the development of the young in their eggs. The choice of place is made with care. Turtles will travel long distances from water to find a suitable spot to bury eggs. Many are killed crossing roads.

Some turtles make the finished nest look as natural as possible, so that it will not attract the attention of predators.

After the eggs are laid and buried, the female plays no further role, even after they hatch.

Minnesota has eight turtle species. The two most common are the snapping turtle and the painted turtle.

-- Jim Gilbert

" Want to keep up with what's happening with the Asian turtle crisis? Visit
the websites of the Turtle Survival Alliance (http://www.turtlesurvival.org), World
Chelonian Trust (http://www.chelonia.org) and the Tortoise Trust
(http://www.tortoisetrust.org)for detailed information.

Here are some additional links of related news stories:

http://www.freep.com/news/metro/nturt20_20011220.htm

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