Effectiveness of BRD Designs for Excluding Diamondback Terrapins

Natalie Klesch ’22 and Michael Gibson ’22

 

We studied terrapins in two tidal creeks in Virginia, USA. We assessed the effectiveness of four BRD designs, including two novel oval designs, against control traps with no BRDs. We found that all four BRD designs were highly effective at excluding terrapins and maintaining crab catch when compared to control traps. We found a significant difference (p = 0.003) in catch per unit effort (CPUE) of diamondback terrapins among treatments, with the control group (those without BRDs) having the highest CPUE (0.97 ± 0.18). All traps fitted with BRDs decreased terrapin capture significantly compared to the control group. Our study provides evidence of the effectiveness of both rectangular and oval-shaped BRDs to exclude terrapins and maintain crab catch in Virginia waters, where BRDs are not currently required.

 

Our work is published in a paper here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/mcf2.10263