Terrapin harvest jumps despite new restrictions : Lawmakers consider total ban

Last year the state put new restrictions on the terrapin harvest, hoping to curb the number of turtles taken from the Chesapeake Bay.

But the move backfired.

During the three-month season last summer and fall, watermen reported taking 10,278 terrapins totaling 17,472.6 pounds - and that doesn't count turtles caught early in 2006 before the new harvest rules were in place.

That's up from 760 pounds in 2005, 2,622 pounds in 2004 and 676 pounds in 2003. Although part of the large jump in 2006 can be attributed to stricter reporting requirements, it still seems likely that the harvest increased.

The idea was to protect...