In my own experience along the Tennessee, mussel poachers have been a more
visible problem receiving more attention from law enforcement. I'm glad that
anyone collecting and dealing listed turtle species is also receiving
attention. The major river systems around here have been so altered by dams,
etc., that I'm impressed that as many species are still hanging on as can be
found among both mussels and turtles. My own experience doing mussel survey
work in the river showed that there are large numbers of mussels in absolute
terms-in-our primary survey site. But almost 70% of them were a single
species, and of the remaining 25 species we found three were federally
listed; one species, the pink mucket, made up about 4% of our collection,
and two others species were represented by one and three individuals,
respectively. The percentage of listed turtles of the total number collected
and sold by the convicted turtle collecters in the story is roughly
comparable.
So I dunno, the turtle story appears to be totally credible. As always, your
mileage may vary.
--Bruce Stallsmith
right by the Tennessee
Huntsville, AL, US of A
>From: Derek Parr <derekparr-in-earthlink.net>
>Reply-To: nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org
>To: nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org
>Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- Follow-Up On Alabama Turtle Poaching Arrests
>Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 00:36:43 -0400
>
>yea.. there's obviously alot more to the story thats not in that article.
>And its probably best to obstain from making any judgements based on such
>little information. Even though there appears to be enough to make simple
>judgements, such obvious holes in the story ....
>well.. I don't think the author of the article meant any malice, but
>storys with such holes and bias are the type conmen use to immorally
>convince others of lies and half truths. (I refer to the inferences and
>such) ... In other words, I respect the author's intent, but I abhor the
>method and I find it to be the worst thing about this whole subject since
>it has so little respect for the "whole truth". Again, whether the author
>intended it so, or just because the author may have been lazy or did a poor
>job of paring the article down.
>-derek parr
>central NC
>
>Irate Mormon wrote:
>
>>All those agencies were involved for-in-least two years, and the perps
>>got off that lightly? I still wish the article were more specific as to
>>the charges.
>>
>>--
>>Irate
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