AUSTIN – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission voted to prohibit the commercial collection of four species of freshwater turtles in Texas—the common snapping turtle, red-eared slider, smooth soft-shell and spiny softshell.
The 2007 state rules prohibited commercial collection of wild freshwater turtles in Texas, but exempted the four species on private waters (private ponds). The new rules prohibit wild collection of the turtles anywhere in Texas.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department received a petition for rulemaking in October 2017 saying that continued commercial harvest of the turtle species is unsustainable. Scientific evidence bears this out, since localized turtle declines have been documented in parts of Texas, and research in recent years has shown these species are vulnerable to overharvest.
The department received a letter from eight scientists across the nation, a group with collective expertise in conservation biology, ecology, population dynamics, wildlife management and other areas relevant to turtle conservation. They said, “freshwater turtles cannot sustain any significant level of wild collection without suffering population declines,” and they asked the commission to “ban for-profit exploitation of the state’s turtles.”
Under the new rules, recreational collection of wild turtles by children or individual citizens remains allowed, captive breeding and sale of lawfully obtained brood stock remains legal for permitted nongame dealers, and private property rights remain unchanged.
The rules will take effect this fall.
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