At one time diamondback terrapins were considered a
culinary delight, a fact that nearly led to their extinction.
Today their numbers continue to be threatened from loss
or degradation of habitat and casualties due to crab pots.
Females of the species are larger than their male counterparts,
and it is often the female who is trapped in crab pots. Males
searching for females often follow them into crab pots, where
both will become ensnared and die. Too often crabbers
abandon their pots, leaving them as “ghost pots,” loaded with
dead terrapins and other wildlife. Diamondbacks breed and
nest on natural embankments like those along the Kiawah
River near Captain Sams Spit. Areas like this are necessary
for their survival, and degradation or removal of them will
have a detrimental effect on the species.
Our knowledge about terrapins has been expanded
through various research projects. Dedicated scientific
studies like that conducted by Dr. J. Whitfield Gibbons,
Professor Emeritus of Ecology, University of Georgia, who
initiated his research in 1983, have heightened awareness of
these terrapins. Dr. Michael E. Dorcas, the Nancy and Erwin
Maddrey Professor of Biology at Davidson College, Davidson,
North Carolina, and Dr. Gibbons together have conducted
the longest, most significant study of diamondback terrapins.
The Kiawah River Terrapin Working Group (KRTWG), the
Town of Kiawah Environmental Committee, and naturalists
at the Heron Park Nature Center have facilitated conservation
efforts on Kiawah. Each of these groups educate and
encourage the use of bycatch reduction devices in crab pots.
When inserted into crab pots, these help prevent terrapins
from being injured or captured, but still allowing crabs to
enter. The devices are free to tourists and residents and
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can be installed at the Heron Park Nature Center.
Recently, the Kiawah Conservancy has committed to
provide funding for Dr. Dorcas, who along with his students
from Davidson College, has been conducting research on
terrapins in Kiawah waters since 2002. Dr. Dorcas’s passion
for gathering information about this species usually brings
him and his working field group to Kiawah twice a year. Mudladen students hauling seining nets through the tidal creeks at
low tide under a blazing sun brave the elements to capture the
elusive diamondbacks. Once they have gathered a number of
terrapins, the research team piles back into their jon boat and
heads off to dry land where data about the captured terrapins
is recorded into a computerized database. They record the
measurements, sex, weight, and age of each terrapin. They
file notches into the carapace of each sample to identify it.
After one day, when all the analysis is completed, the
workers release the terrapins that eagerly return to the salty
water. Dr. Dorcas next plans to augment his investigation to
include analysis of reproduction, and a comparison of clutch
sizes of females both on Kiawah and Botany Islands. Valuable
ecological information is anticipated from this fieldwork.
Diamondback terrapins are far from ordinary and are
a valuable biological indicator about the environmental
well being of Kiawah Island. Their contribution to the
circle of life in marsh habitat is unquestionably vital.
Certainly, conservation efforts need to be continued to
educate commercial crabbers, tourists, and land developers,
highlighting the importance of this terrapin. Given the
opportunity these reptiles will lead long lives, providing
significant information about our Island. It is up to all of
us to protect these precious “diamonds in the rough.” NK
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