A ban on the harvesting and sale of more than 20 species of freshwater turtles in Florida took effect this week.
The ban comes against the backdrop of growing concern on the part of Florida scientists that, the continuing harvesting of turtles was getting out of hand and threatened their survival.
A spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Pat Benhke, said they had to put a stop to it.
“We like to keep common species common and we don’t want them to go on our imperial species list at all. We want to keep them just as abundant as they are. We are very blessed in Florida to have a very diverse and abundant population of freshwater turtles and we want to keep it that way,” said Behnke.
The ban is seen as one of the harshest in the nation in relation to the harvesting of freshwater turtles.
The ban exempts turtle farmers who will be able to catch a limited number of turtles for breeding purposes.
