BRD Terrapin Excluder

My mission is to travel from cache to cache and teach people about the importance of this device. Basically I save wild terrapins that live in Barnegat Bay from drowning in crab traps. I would love to visit other caches that have to do with turtles or terrapins. In fact my owner has a local cache called " A Diamond Back Terrapin Rest Stop" which is the type of turtle I am saving! I know there are a few local turtle addicts that cache as well.

As a business owner(Lacey Marine) of a local boating store and bait and tackle we sell crab traps and include these BRD's with everyone of them. The MATES program gives them to us to put in each trap. 

Project Terrapin Bycatch Reduction Device (BRD) Zone

MATES Project Terrapin is sponsoring an initiative to require Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDs) on all commercial-style crab pots. When crab pots become lost, abandoned or separated from their mooring, they can be ghost posts

Pictured above are students at the Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science (MATES) rounding up ghost crab pots at Waretown, New Jersey

Overview of BRDs

The use of commercial-style crab pots is one way to catch blue crabs. Crab pots set in water bodies sometime capture organisms other than blue crabs. We call this "bycatch". If pots are tended to frequently, then bycatch can be released back to the water with little harm. But if they are not tended to frequently, bycatch can starve and eventually die. Sadly, diamondback terrapins sometime enter crab pots because they find the bait and/or blue crabs a good food source. When terrapins enter, they have a more narrow window to be rescued and can easily drown in commercial-syle crab pots (see below). If the funnels (openings) of pots are fitted with bycatch reduction devices (BRDs), then adult female terrapins and some large males cannot enter the pots (see orange-colored BRD on pot above).

Current Regulations in New Jersey for the use of BRDs

The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife has a regulation that requires the use of Bycatch Reduction Devices on all commercial-style crab pots that are set in water bodies with shoreline to shoreline of 150 feet across or less at mean low water. Therefore, BRDs are needed on crab pots set in lagoons, and some creek areas. Please see the BRD regulation at NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife. Female diamondback terrapin drowned in a crab pot without BRDs in Ocean County, NJ

Our Recommendation

MATES Project Terrapin is sponsoring an initiative to require Bycatch Reduction Devices (BRDs) on all commercial-style crab pots. We are circulating a letter of support to require BRDs on all commercial-syle crab pots based on scientific studies across the range of terrapins in the United States. Most studies indicate that there is no difference in the size and/or amount of crabs caught in pots with and without BRDs. Also, the size of BRDs in New Jersey are 2" x 6" which is larger than those required in the state of Maryland (2" x 4") and Maryland has no significant reduction in the size of crabs caught. Regardless of the shoreline to shoreline requirements, crab pots set in waterways greater than 150 feet across can also be habitat for terrapins. Especially, if the pots are set close to marsh areas. Also, some pots become separated from the their floats or mooring and become "ghost pots" that can be moved by large storms into areas where they can be accessed by terrapins. With the BRD installed, there is a lower probability of terrapins accessing crab pots and drowning.

How you can help

Through a generous gift from Exelon Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, we were able to purchase 10,000 BRDs to distribute (free) to people who need them for their commercial-style crab pots. Please contact us here at MATES at the email address below if you are interested in getting a set of BRDs for your crab pot(s). Also, please get a letter of support signed or send an e-mail to the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife and address the BRD requirement request to the Bureau of Marine Fisheries (http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/contactform.htm). To get a free set of BRDs, contact me at jwnek@mail.ocvts.org

Special Thanks Goes Out To...

Thanks to Lacey Marine for including the BRD bundles in their crab pot distribution this past summer; partners in Terrapin research and conservation at Barnegat Bay, New Jersey. 

BRD (New Jersey Size) used to insert into the funnels of commercial-style crab pots

Adult female terrapin found drowned in commercial-style crab pot (without BRD) in Lacey Township, New Jersey.