By Joe Mosby
Arkansas News Correspondent

LITTLE ROCK — The state Game and Fish Commission on Thursday rejected a proposal to ban the taking of turtles in Arkansas.

Several conservation groups petitioned the commission and the state Department of Health to immediately halt commercial harvesting, sales and export of turtles because of a health risk from contamination.

“We have seen a lot of pressure on turtles in the last three years. Our staff recommendation is that it is not an emergency and should be included in our regular fishing regulations process,” Game and Fish Director Scott Henderson told the commission.

The panel directed the agency’s staff to gather information and submit recommendations as part of the fishing rules schedule for changes to be considered later this year.

In their petition, conservation groups said consumption of turtles known to be contaminated with toxins and pollutants poses a significant public health risk.

The petition was from the San Francisco-based Center for Biological Diversity and listed participants as the Center for Food Safety, Center for North American Herpetology, Center for Reptile and Amphibian Conservation and Management, Audubon Society of Central Arkansas and Arkansas River Coalition.

“Our concern is to protect human health and to conserve native species of turtles in Arkansas,” Bill Shepherd of Little Rock, a member of the Audubon Society of Central Arkansas, told the commission. “There have been PCB accumulations found in some snapping turtles in Arkansas.”

Arkansans who eat turtles usually consume just the meat of the legs, but Asians eat all parts, including the liver where pollutants are concentrated and the shells, Shepherd said.

Polychlorinated biphenyls are organic compounds found in fluids used in electrical transformers and other industrial uses. PCBs have been blamed for human illnesses and deaths in many parts of the world.

“Arkansans who eat turtles usually consume just the meat of the legs, but Asians eat all parts, including the liver, where pollutants are concentrated and the shells,” Shepherd said.

In Arkansas, Lake Saracen — formerly Lake Pine Bluff — was closed for years because of excessive levels of PCBs. The lake was renovated and has reopened to recreational use, including fishing.

Mike Armstrong, chief of fisheries for Game and Fish, said after the meeting that turtles harvested commercially in Arkansas are shipped out of state, mostly to overseas destinations.

Armstrong said agency herpetologist Kelly Irwin is compiling extensive information on the turtle health issue. He added the agency has not heard from the Health Department on the issue.

Shepherd told commissioners that conservationists also are concerned with the dwindling numbers of turtles in Arkansas.

The petition said commercial harvesting of turtles has been banned in Alabama, Illinois, Mississippi and North Carolina.

Texas has banned it on public waters, Oklahoma has begun a three-year moratorium on turtle harvesting in public waters and Georgia is preparing is considering legislation on the issue, the document said.