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House bill to protect diamondback terrapins cleared by Senate subcommittee
Summary
A Virginia Senate subcommittee voted to report HB 1013, which would designate terrapin protection areas in the Chesapeake Bay and require bycatch‑reduction devices on recreational crab pots in those areas; supporters said the devices are inexpensive and highly effective.
Delegate Tran spoke to the subcommittee about House Bill 1013, saying the diamondback terrapin has suffered a roughly 75% population decline across much of its range over the past 50 years and that terrapins frequently drown after becoming trapped in crab pots.
Tran told members the bill would direct the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, in partnership with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the crab management advisory committee, to identify Chesapeake Bay areas with high terrapin–crab pot interaction and designate them as diamondback terrapin protection areas. In those zones, the bill would require recreational crab pot users to install a simple bycatch‑reduction device that, Tran said, costs between $1 and $6 and allows crabs to enter while preventing terrapins from becoming trapped.
Chris Moore of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Blair St. Leger Olsen of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters and a representative of Friends of the Rappahannock testified in support, thanking the patron and urging the panel to report the bill. Senator Rohm expressed strong support during floor discussion and moved to recommend reporting the bill. The motion was seconded and the subcommittee voted to report HB 1013 to the full committee.
The subcommittee chair said the bill will go to the full committee and that proponents need not attend that meeting.
