NJ DEPARTMENT of ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
NATURAL AND HISTORIC RESOURCES
DIVISION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE

Notice of Rule Proposal
Terrapin Regulations, N.J.A.C. 7:25-21.1

PUBLIC NOTICE
Take notice that the NJ Department of Environmental Protection is proposing to amend sections of N.J.A.C. 7:25-21, in order to prohibit the taking, catching, possession, exposure for sale, or attempt to catch or take diamondback terrapin.  The Department has determined that diamondback terrapin populations in New Jersey are under duress, and that the harvest of adult diamondback terrapins reduces populations that are already at risk due to predation, motor vehicle mortality, and habitat alteration.  Closing the diamondback terrapin season will help to curtail the excessive adult mortality to which diamondback terrapin populations are extremely sensitive.

The proposal is scheduled to be published in the New Jersey Register dated May 16, 2016.  A copy of the proposal is available from: the DEP website, http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/proposals/20160516a.pdf; and the LexisNexis free public access to the New Jersey Register, www.lexisnexis.com/njoal.

A public hearing concerning the proposal is scheduled as follows:

Monday, June 13, 2016 at 6:00 P.M.
Stafford Township Municipal Building
260 East Bay Ave.
Manahawkin, NJ

Written comments may be submitted electronically by July 1, 2016 at http://www.nj.gov/dep/rules/comments; or
In hard copy to:

Alice A. Previte, Esq.
ATTN: (DEP Docket No. 03-16-04)
NJ Department of Environmental Protection
Office of Legal Affairs
Mail Code 401-04L; PO Box 402
401 East State Street, 7th Floor
Trenton, NJ 08625-0402