Black market for Florida turtles is thriving
MIAMI — Florida freshwater turtles are being illegally caught and exported live in increasingly large numbers to keep up with demand for their meat, their supposed medicinal purposes and their value as pets, state wildlife officials said this month.
The black market trade is putting a strain on the state’s already vulnerable freshwater and terrestrial turtle populations, and officials say they expect demand to grow along with the dollar amount that poachers in Florida can fetch.
Depending on the species, harvesters can make $300 to more than $16,000 for a single turtle, officials say.
The appetite for freshwater turtles in Asian countries such as China, Indonesia and India is already measured in tons per day, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and it has reached the point where it is unsustainable. While China has large farms raising turtles, the demand for wild caught adult turtles in the country is exploding.
Turtles live a long time — some species from 80 to more than 100 years — and they reach sexual maturity later in life than many other animals. This combination makes their populations particularly at risk to not only poaching, but to development, traffic and predatory animals, as well as sea level rise and climate change.
But they only face these risks if they hatch.
George Heinrich, executive director of the Florida Turtle Conservation Trust in St. Petersburg, said up to 90 percent of some turtles’ eggs are lost to predators.
“It’s really tough for these turtles to persist,” Heinrich said.
At the same time, penalties for those who get caught catching and selling turtles in the state, a practice that’s been illegal since 2009, are relatively light, making it a high-yield, low-risk crime.
“If you get caught selling drugs, you’re probably going to get jail time,” said Col. Curtis Brown, head of law enforcement for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “With wildlife violations, it’s rare you’re going to get jail. Every day, people are out hunting them. If someone can get $15,000 for one turtle, they’re going to do it.”
By 2005, Florida officials began noticing a spike in the commercial harvest of the state’s 23 native freshwater species as countries in Asia were significantly winnowing their own native turtle populations, Brown said.
“As globalized markets fluctuate relative to supply and demand, the billions of people that desire turtles around the world create pressure on Florida’s wild turtles,” Brown wrote in a Feb. 20 memo accompanying a presentation he showed at the Conservation Commission’s monthly meeting in Tallahassee.
The increased harvest quickly became a problem, prompting the 2009 law making it illegal to sell wild caught turtles in Florida.
“Florida’s abundance of different species and significant populations make the state an attractive target for collectors and illegal harvesters,” Brown said.
During one recent law enforcement operation, federal agents tracked more than 600,000 pounds of turtles exported to China, according to Brown’s presentation. Agents estimate that the reptiles had a domestic market value of $6.6 million and a retail market value in China of almost $11 million.
But in the end, the operation led to only two felony convictions for violating the Lacey Act prohibiting the trade of illegally caught wildlife. The defendants’ sentences were 90 days in jail, a $20,000 fine and two years of probation, according to Brown’s presentation.
Heinrich said that although he would prefer to see stiffer penalties, law enforcement is coming down harder on wildlife law breakers than it ever has in the past.
“FWC is paying attention to this. They’re out there working on it,” he said. “Five to 10 years ago, they’d get a slap on the wrist.”
While thousands of live turtles are caught and exported from Florida, the state comes in a distant third in the illicit trade. From 2016 to 2020, 571,704 live turtles were exported out of Florida, according to the presentation.
During the same time frame, 2.9 million turtles were exported out of Los Angeles, and 2.8 million were sent from New Orleans, according to the commission.