Maryland's terrapins were officially protected from commercial harvesting on July 1, 2007!

Click here to see Governor O'Malley signing the terrapin bills into law on April 24, 2007

Our many thanks to Senator Dyson, Delegate Clagett, cosponsors, their legislative staff members and to all of you who called and wrote to your representatives and secured the bills' passage!

 

This was a great first step. There is much exciting work ahead that's needed to truly protect our terrapins ...and it's work that will help many other important species including some of our very favorites like Maryland's blue crabs!

 

One great thing about striving for terrapin conservation is that it will also benefit the populations of many animals and plants in the Bay.

With some creativity we can mitigate the many other significant problems that remain such as habitat loss and degradation, and "shoreline hardening" in critical nesting areas (rip rap boulders can block or trap nesting females but other types erosion control (see the Living Shorelines program for example) allow access and may last longer).

 

We will be updating this web site to let you know about simple ways in which you can help terrapin conservation so please check back again soon (and hit the Refresh button when you do to see the updates)

 

Before you go, please take a moment to thank Governor O'Malley for showing such dedication to protecting Maryland's terrapins!

 

We encourage everyone to participate in future projects as we all move forward to help preserve our terrapin populations in the Chesapeake Bay.

 

As always, if you have any questions, please let us know. Thanks!