Virginia Marine Resources Commission denies petition to require terrapin bycatch reduction devices; asks staff to study recreational pots

The Marine Resources Commission on June 24 denied a petition asking the commission to require bycatch reduction devices, or BRDs, on licensed commercial and recreational blue crab pots within 150 yards of the mean low water shoreline.

Petitioners — the Center for Biological Diversity, the Virginia Herpetological Society and William M. Rosenberg — asked the commission to adopt or amend regulations to require rectangular BRDs no larger than 4.5 by 12 centimeters on each funnel of a crab pot in nearshore waters, and proposed a three‑year retrofit grace period. The petition sought the requirement in waters “less than a 150 yards from shore at the mean low watermark, including man made lagoons, creeks, coves, rivers, tributaries, shallow bays, inlets, and nearshore harbors,” and included draft regulatory language and citations to portions of the Code of Virginia cited in the petition materials.

The commission invited a…