Ended Commercial Harvest of New Jersey's Diamondback Terrapins

In 2016, DRN put out an Action Alert to submit comments to support a proposed bill to end the commercial harvesting of diamondback terrapins in New Jersey. On July 15, 2016, then-Governor Chris Christie signed this bill which ended commercial harvesting and re-categorized terrapins as non-game species. This was a huge success thanks to the efforts of local citizens and environmental groups because it removed one of the largest threats to terrapins. However, other threats such as climate change, nesting habitat loss, road mortality, and derelict crab traps still remain. DRN continues to find ways to help and much work is still needed to protect this vulnerable species.