Hunting & collecting terrestrial animals 

This category includes threats from the consumptive use of biological resources, including deliberate and unintentional harvesting, as well as the persecution or control of specific species (Salafsky et al. 2008). This threat has been identified as an issue for many amphibian and reptile SGCN primarily due to the collection of these animals for the pet trade.  

The collecting of reptiles and amphibians for the pet trade is a potential threat in Delaware, especially for the following SGCN: Bog Turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii), Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata), Eastern Kingsnake (Lampropeltis getula), Eastern Milk Snake (Lampropeltis triangulum), and Eastern Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum). 

Overharvesting or bycatch of aquatic resources 

Overharvest or bycatch in legal harvest can be issues that affect many aquatic SGCN. However, regulations on harvest set by the state, as well as Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (MAFMC) help to ameliorate these threats for most managed fisheries. Nevertheless, both recreational and commercial fishermen (fin and shellfish) should take precautions to minimize impacts on nontarget species to maintain healthy ecosystem function and balance in aquatic food webs. 

A particularly important example in Delaware is the Horseshoe Crab (Limulus polyphemus). Despite a male-only harvest limit for the fishery in Delaware, the coastwide harvest for biomedical use has recently approached the same magnitude as the bait fishery, although only 15% mortality is assumed for crabs harvested for this purpose. ASMFC collects data on the biomedical harvest from the states as a requirement of Addendum III to the Horseshoe Crab Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Since 2007, the estimated annual mortality from biomedical harvest has exceeded the ASMFC’s suggested action threshold for this metric. The biomedical harvest takes a large percentage of female crabs, even though male-only harvest is currently regarded as the best management alternative for the fishery. Of the total biomedical collections in 2023, males accounted for 52.9%, and females comprised 47.1%.  Delaware currently has no biomedical collection.

Related Topics:  draft