Twenty organizations have petitioned the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to classify diamondback terrapins — Maryland’s state reptile and the University of Maryland’s mascot — as an endangered or threatened species.
The petition, which was filed in September, would protect the terrapins under the Endangered Species Act. Classifying the terrapins under the act will allocate funds and mechanisms to help the species and regulate activities that could diminish the population, according to Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity and a co-author of the petition.
Diamondback terrapins are an “invaluable” piece of the ecosystem, the petition said. The species keeps the ecosystem healthy by eating marsh snails, which can harm marsh grasses if their population is too high, according to the Center for Biological Diversity — a nonprofit that protects endangered species.
Under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is required to submit a preliminary decision within 90 days of the petition, which would be in early 2025.
But it takes about 10 to 12 years on average for a species to be listed as endangered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to Harlan. If it takes that long for diamondback terrapins, the situation will continue to get worse, he noted.
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged the petition, but did not comment on a timeline for its preliminary decision.
Diamondback terrapins have seen a 75 percent population decline across most of their habitat range, from Massachusetts to Texas, according to the petition.
The leading cause of death for terrapins is drowning in crab pots used for commercial and recreational crabbing, Harlan said. About 60,000 to 80,000 terrapins die each year in the traps, he added.
Bycatch reduction devices, which are plastic ovals attached to the entrance of the trap to prevent terrapins from entering, are the best solution to the threat, Harlan said.
But compliance rates for the device are just 53 percent, according to a study from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Classifying terrapins under the Endangered Species Act would help increase bycatch reduction device usage, Harlan explained.
“It’s totally doable. We have the technology, we have the research,” said Harlan. “We just have to get them required so that everyone is using them.”
Like Harlan, Beth Schlimm, a state Herpetologist at the Maryland natural resources department, said increasing compliance with crab pot regulations is the most important priority for saving terrapins..
But Schlimm is not convinced that diamondback terrapins in Maryland need to be classified as endangered. Categorizing them as such would add a layer of administrative work that would limit the department’s conservation efforts, she added
“I’m not sure we necessarily have the data that we need to argue that this is warranted at this stage,” Schlimm said.
Climate change and sea level rise are other threats to the terrapin population, according to Christopher Rowe, an environmental science associate professor at this university.
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Diamondback terrapins use sandy, coastal areas for nesting, but sea level rise is “decimating their habitats,” Rowe said. Brackish marshes and coasts are also washing away, Rowe added.
As sea level rise impacts property developments along coastlines, humans harden their shorelines with bulkheads or rip rap seawalls, according to Rowe. These additions protect land from erosion, according to the National Park Service.
Hardening the shorelines prevents turtles from being able to nest, Rowe noted.
Harlan urged university community members to rally behind their mascot and support the petition.
“That’s tailgaters, and football fans and basketball fans saying ‘Let’s save our terrapin,’” Harlan said. “[It’s] the only terrapin in the United States. Let’s protect it.”
Emma Dezenzo, a sophomore environmental science and policy major, learned about the protections of the Endangered Species Act in her environmental law class.
Classifying them under this act is the correct step, since the act was designed to “protect species at any cost” Dezenzo said.
Sophomore environmental science and policy major Vivian Maneval said that it would be a “devastating loss” if the terrapins go extinct, given their deep ties to the state.
“We’re all represented by the diamondback terrapin and just to see that fade away into extinction can be really devastating and really open people’s eyes to the fact that environmental issues are human issues,” Maneval said.
This story has been updated.
