This story was reported and written by our media partner the Virginia Mercury.
A bill that would have required recreational crabbers to add terrapin by-catch devices onto their pots to prevent accidental drownings of the reptiles failed to pass out of the Virginia Senate, stalling the measure for the year.
There was an attempt to revive the measure on Thursday to turn the bill into a study, but it failed to materialize.
The devices are plastic borders that go onto the opening of crab pots that reduce the entry size so that the diamondback terrapins are unable to enter the pots at all. But commercial crabbers feared the restrictions could ultimately apply to them – and impact their bottom lines.
Lawmakers also expressed concern that the measure would overstep existing regulatory authorities.
“The (Virginia Marine Resource Commission) is responsible for establishing our fishing regulations,” said Sen. Richard Stuart, R-Prince George, during deliberations on the bill Wednesday. “Now we’re going to insert this (and) … tell them how to do it?”
House Bill 1013, sponsored by Del. Kathy Tran, D-Fairfax, faced fierce opposition from the Virginia Watermen’s Association, who turned out to the General Assembly in droves for the initial bill hearing.
The group, who make their livelihoods on the water catching crabs, said that the by-catch devices prevent crabs from entering the pots and claimed they can reduce their catch by as much as 50%. They do not purposely catch the turtles, they said, but it happens sometimes during the course of their regular business.
“All this does is require recreational crabbers to put these devices on so we can cut down on the losses of these very valuable and important creatures that exist in our Chesapeake Bay,” Sen. Dave Marsden, D-Fairfax, said in defense of the bill Wednesday.
Tran explained in her testimony on the bill in a February hearing that the turtles enter the pots and are unable to get out leading to them drowning in as little as 50 minutes. Marsden reiterated that danger this week and framed the bill as a small price to pay to ensure the terrapins’ safety.
“So if every year or so somebody is deprived of a couple of crabs because they were too big, I suppose we can live with that loss to protect these creatures,” Marsden said.
The northern diamondback terrapin is touted as one of Virginia’s species in greatest need of protection. There have been multiple attempts to place the species on the endangered or threatened species list, but none have been successful.
The Center for Biological Diversity claims that the diamondback terrapins have lost 75% of their population over the last 50 years. However, some lawmakers said studies for the the turtle’s population in the Chesapeake Bay region are too outdated – and that their population loss is due to many factors outside of crab pot drownings
Tran’s original bill sought to establish certain restriction areas for recreational crab pots only. The bill was amended on the Senate floor to remove that aspect and to stipulate all recreational crab pots have the by-catch devices.
The amendment also charged the VMRC with reviewing whether further steps need to be taken to protect the diamondback terrapins — which the watermen felt would lead to additional restrictions on commercial pots, too.
“Whenever the General Assembly establishes precedent, which this would be, that these plastic contraptions should be on crab pots, groups can sue,” Stuart said. “And I think a judge could force all of them to go on commercial pots.”
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation had advocated strongly for the bill and said they’d heard public accounts of dozens of turtles drowning in single pots. Jay Ford, the Virginia policy director with the foundation, said he found 49 terrapins in a pot near his home.
“The Virginia Senate just voted to keep drowning 100,000 terrapins a year when they could have adopted a simple, inexpensive solution that every other state already adopted to prevent these deaths,” Ford posted on X after the bill failed.
The bill was defeated with a vote of 18-22.