Posted on 07/25/2009 6:59:28 PM PDT by JoeProBono
One growing export has tipped the U.S.-China trade balance: live turtles.
Each year millions of U.S. turtles that are hatched in farms or caught in the wild are devoured in China, where the onetime delicacy has become more available to the masses. The Chinese eat turtles—especially softshell and snapper species—and use the animals' parts in traditional medicines that are said to boost everything from the immune system to sexual prowess.
But conservationists worry that this high demand will cause some U.S. turtle species to be eaten to extinction.
That's why the U.S. state of Florida just passed a tough new law that effectively ends commercial wild-turtle harvests. (See a Florida map.)
The new statute, made effective July 20, limits individuals to a "noncommercial use" of just one turtle a day for most of the state's species.
Florida's swamps, rivers, and coasts offer rich habitats for 25 species of turtles, several of which are declining due to human harvesting, according to the Florida Turtle Conservation Trust.
Insatiable Appetite
Fears of turtle overconsumption are grounded in some sobering statistics, experts say.
Chinese demand has already decimated populations in countries such as Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam, and Indonesia, according to the nonprofit Conservation International.
I’ve never had turtle soup, but I’d try it. Looks tasty in the picture, anyhow.
OTOH, I’m not sure I would like Mrs. Tick eating “snapper” for, er, enhancement purposes. Sounds kind of dangerous! If you know what I mean (and I think you do).
Decimated - Ok, so one in ten turtles got eaten. What of it? Or does someone need to actually read the dictionary before using fancy words they don't mean?
Okay, now we see that you’ve got a lot of turtle-related photos. Certainly there must be more, such as a snapping turtle biting a person’s toes, or a turtle with his shell and head off, being prepped for the pot.
Anything you actually want to say to us about this issue, if issue it is? Do yo think it is a good or bad thing that the US is providing turtle meat to an insatiable and ever-growing population of Chinese nationals?
Perhaps that someone not reading the dictionary is you. Decimated does mean one in ten; however if you read the entire entry for the word decimated in the Merriam Webster Collegiate Dictionary which appears on page 298, you would find it also means to reduce drastically, and to destroy a large part of. So, there you have it.
I’ve got a lot of turtles in my pond and I find them really amusing, funny and gutsy.
I feed the fish, geese, ducks and turtles day old bread almost every day. The fish are voracious and the turtle are very gutsy and funny. The can see you coming and start swimming up to the shore and through the algea. They will come right up on shore to grab a piece of bread and then shoot right back into the water.
Baby ones, bigger ones and 2 great big ones. They fight with the fish over the bread bits.
I wouldn’t sell them. They’re too much fun and amusement. I respect them. They’re just trying to get by like the rest of us.
The Chinese will eat everything and anything. So will the Japanese and Koreans. They should give it a rest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ziBb1M8EyI
The boys will be two years old during the Oregon State Fair and they have been clamoring for a bike. So far Mom has said No, but maybe, just maybe...
Some people think decimated means reduced to 1/10th of population before the decimation.
With China, you have to x10 any figure they give you.
Even though Webster tells us decimate means to remove one tenth, I’ve read it throughout the years to mean remove 90%.
I mean, who quakes at 10%?
Looks like one of mine (but not quite as mean) down to the fallen log sticking out of the water. One time I counted 5 turtles sunning themselves on the arch shaped tree stump jutting out of the water.
Why would the turtles go extinct if there is a huge market for them? Does that mean the chicken is in trouble in the US?
Turtles lay lots of eggs and humans have the technology to optimize turtle production. I don’t know why China hasn’t built turtle farms.
It wouldn’t be a good idea to start a turtles-for-consumption business in the US because the Chinese would grow a brain and do it themselves and not have to ship them overseas.
The quotation involved a Florida environmental group which pushed through legislation basically halting any commercial harvesting of turtles. But the legislation still permits every resident of Florida to go out and get a turtle a day, so obviously there’s no real population dangers - well, there will be, in the near future, as someone’s /not/ harvesting turtles.
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