Along the wild waterways of Arkansas, turtles were once so abundant you never knew what kind you'd see around the next bend.
But lately it often feels like there are no turtles at all on some of our biggest and most beloved rivers. And that's a problem, for us and our precious waters.
So it makes no sense that a small number of people are allowed to profit off the unlimited commercial harvest and sale of Arkansas turtles. It's time for state wildlife managers to put an end to this unsustainable practice.
Trapping tens of thousands of turtles each year degrades our natural resources. And the majority of those turtles are then exported overseas to countries in Asia and elsewhere that use them for food or in old-fashioned medicines.
These are usually countries that have already decimated their own freshwater turtle populations, and are now helping do the same to ours.
Arkansas allows turtle harvesting from waters across roughly half the state, including the entirety of the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers. Game and Fish Commission harvest records show more than 1.1 million wild turtles were harvested between 2004 and 2012. More recently, 126,381 freshwater turtles were harvested from 2014 to 2016.
This harvest was geographically concentrated, with two-thirds of those turtles taken from only five counties. Currently turtle trappers can legally collect unrestricted numbers of 14 types of Arkansas turtles.
But scientists have repeatedly documented that freshwater turtles cannot sustain any significant level of wild collection without population-level impacts and declines.
For example, one study of common snapping turtles demonstrated that a modest harvest of 10 percent per year for 15 years could result in a 50 percent reduction in population size.
And an Arkansas study found that turtles from populations in heavily harvested areas were significantly smaller than those from areas where harvesting is not permitted.
That's why the organizations where we work, along with several other Arkansas-based environmental groups, petitioned the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to end commercial collection of the state's wild turtles.
If Arkansas bans collections, it would join a growing number of states preserving important wildlife and natural resources. Missouri just recently banned destructive commercial turtle harvesting, and Texas proposed a similar rule. Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and North Carolina have all banned commercial collection of native turtles.
Lax regulation on legal turtle harvest like we have in Arkansas also makes it easier to get away with illegal harvesting. When one state allows turtle harvests but surrounding states do not, it's easier for poachers to poach turtles from states where it is illegal and smuggle them into the state that allows harvests to pass them off as legal.
Historically, Arkansas had one of the highest levels of aquatic biodiversity in the nation. But that abundance is rapidly declining because our native species are not protected.
That's especially bad news for one of our state's important economic engines: tourism. The majority of outdoor recreation here involves being on the water. And much of that outdoor tourism depends on opportunities for wildlife viewing in a place that bills itself as "The Natural State."
Freshwater turtles perform critical functions as the principal scavengers of our aquatic ecosystems. Without turtles to consume dead fish and debris, water quality can decline.
But with so many threats, from habitat destruction to pollution, there are fewer turtles around to perform this important job. Just look at the Buffalo River. Multiple major sources of pollution in the form of concentrated animal feeding operations already line the river and its tributaries.
We can't afford to lose any more of the aquatic critters that help clean our rivers and streams. We can't let people exploit these important animals in unlimited numbers.
All research on commercial turtle trapping shows that profitable levels of harvest are unsustainable. Turtles naturally have low levels of reproductive success, and since many trappers target larger adults, commercial harvest has widespread impacts on their populations.
Arkansas' precious turtles shouldn't be sacrificed so a few trappers can make a quick buck. The rest of us deserve the chance to enjoy wild turtles the next time we're boating, fishing or just floating along.
It's time for the state to ban this destructive practice and preserve our natural heritage.
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Debbie Doss is founder and director of the Arkansas Watertrails Partnership. Elise Bennett is the Center for Biological Diversity's reptile and amphibian staff attorney in the Southeast.
Editorial on 05/03/2018