TSA Magazine Archives
Download back issues of Turtle Survival, the TSA's annual publication, below. Members receive the full-color magazine each year, as a benefit of their membership in the TSA. To purchase print copies of back issues, visit our STORE!
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About Turtle Survival Alliance
The Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) was formed in 2001 as an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) partnership for sustainable captive management of freshwater turtles and tortoises, and initially designated a Task Force of the IUCN Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. The TSA arose in response to the rampant and unsustainable harvest of Asian turtle populations to supply Chinese markets, a situation known as the Asian Turtle Crisis.
Since forming, the TSA has become recognized as a global force for turtle conservation, capable of taking swift and decisive action on behalf of critically endangered turtles and tortoises. Although the TSA was organized in response to the Asian Turtle Crisis, the group has been expanded as our understanding of the scope of turtle and tortoise declines has become better understood. The TSA has been particularly involved in recovery efforts where a managed breeding component is part of an overall survival strategy. The TSA employs a comprehensive strategy for evaluating the most critically endangered chelonians that identifies whether a species is prioritized for a captive program or through range country efforts, or a combination of both.
In the past 13 years, TSA secured nonprofit 501(c)(3) status (2005) and has centralized its base operations in South Carolina by opening the Turtle Survival Center (2013). The Turtle Survival Center, which now has AZA certification (2018), is home to a collection of more than 700 turtles and tortoises, representing 30 of the world’s critically endangered species. The TSA has also grown internationally, with significant field projects or programs in Madagascar, Myanmar and India, and additional projects in Belize, Colombia, and throughout Asia.
Today, the TSA is an action-oriented global partnership, focusing on species that are at high risk of extinction, and working in turtle diversity hotspots around the world. Widely recognized as a global catalyst for turtle conservation based on its reputation for swift and decisive action, the TSA has made a bold commitment to zero turtle extinctions in the 21st Century. The TSA is a recognized force for turtle conservation globally. TSA’s conservation actions utilize a three-pronged approach:
1. Restoring populations in the wild where possible;
2. Securing species in captivity through assurance colonies; and
3. Building the capacity to restore, secure and conserve species within their range country.
conservation visit the following websites:
Chesapeake Terrapin Alliance
www.cterrapin.org
Diamondback Terrapin Working Group
dtwg.org
Maryland DNR-Wildlife & Heritage Service
P.O. Box 68
Wye Mills, MD 21679
410-827-8612
www.dnr.maryland.gov
The National Aquarium
www.aqua.org
The Terrapin Institute
www.terrapininstitute.org
The Wetlands Institute
www.terrapinconservation.org
Brochure developed by
Maryland Herp Partners © 2009.
The diamondback terrapin
(Malaclemys terrapin) is our state
reptile and lives exclusively in the tidal
salt marshes of the Chesapeake Bay
and Atlantic coastal waters.
This brackish water habitat is also
the home of the blue crab
(Callinectes sapidus).
Photo/illustration credits:
Kelly Finan
George Grall, National Aquarium
Scott A. Smith, MD Department of Natural Resources
Attention Maryland
Crabbers:
You
can
help
save
our
state
reptile!
Larry Hogan, Governor
Mark Belton, Secretary
Publication #03-1282009-430
Diamondback terrapin with barnacles
growing on its shell.
A terrapin is seen swimming in the Bay. You can
help to ensure our state reptile is around for future
generations to enjoy by having BRDs on all of your
crab pots.
What’s the problem?
Terrapins were once very plentiful but today are
struggling to survive because of loss of nesting
beach habitat, increased mortalities from boat
collisions, road mortality, and drowning in crab
pots and other types of fishing gear.
The terrapin desperately needs
your help to survive.
Each year recreational crab pots unnecessarily
claim the lives of terrapins. Terrapins are lured
into crab pots by the same baits used to attract
blue crabs. However, unlike blue crabs, terrapins
must rise periodically to the surface for a breath
of air. Terrapins trapped in a fully submerged
crab pot will eventually die from drowning.
How can you help?
Waterfront property owners are legally allowed
to crab with a maximum of two recreational crab
pots. Since 1999, Maryland regulation requires
that each entrance funnel of all recreational crab
pots must be equipped with a crabpot By-catch
Reduction Device (BRD), also known as a
Turtle Excluder Device (TED).
BRDs, developed by turtle conservationists, are
rectangular inserts attached to the funnels that
prevent large terrapins and other air breathing
animals from being able to enter the crab pot.
BRDs reduce unintended by-catch from drowning,
but they do not interfere with trapping legal
size crabs. You can help by insisting that any
recreational crab-pots you purchase are properly
fitted with BRDs and by installing BRDs on all
your older crab pots.
Where do you get a BRD?
Some retailers sell crab pots with BRDs installed
and others sell them separately. BRDs can also
be purchased directly from manufacturers or
constructed from 11 gauge galvanized wire.
Will BRDs prevent all terrapins
from entering a crab pot?
Unfortunately, small terrapins will still be able to fit
through the 1 ¾ X 4 ¾ inch BRD. To make BRDs
any smaller will reduce the capture of legal size
crabs. Checking crab pots a minimum of twice a
day can prevent small terrapins from drowning.
Turtle Excluder Device (TED)
How to Install a
Installing a Bycatch Reduction
Device (BRD) on a crab pot.
Step 1: Obtain a 1 ¾ x
4 ¾ inch BRD (metal or
plastic) for each funnel
opening in the crab pot,
along with heavy plastic
cable ties. Hog rings or
cable ties can be used
to attach metal BRDs.
Step 2:
Position the
BRD at the
narrow back end of
each entrance funnel.
Turtle Excluder Device (TED)
How to Install a
Turtle Excluder Device (TED)
How to Install a
Step 3: Use heavy zip
ties (cables) to loop
around funnel wire
and the corner
of the BRD.
Pull tightly and
trim excess
cable. Use a
minimum of
four cable ties
or hog rings
to firmly attach
each excluder.
Metal (left) and plastic (right) BRDs.
A BRD will prevent almost all terrapins and other
species of turtle from entering a crab pot.