NJ shore students get turtle protection bill launched

The slow and steady efforts of students at a New Jersey shore environmental science school to protect a species of turtle are about to pay off.

They’ve gotten state legislators to introduce a bill making it illegal to catch or take diamondback terrapins from the wild, and requiring the state to investigate ways to protect their population.

Students at Manahawkin’s Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science have been studying and trying to protect terrapins since 2002, educating the public about them and researching the turtles’ numbers.

A bill introduced earlier this month would make it illegal to catch or take terrapins from the wild, and would commit the state to studying and protecting their populations.

Cars kill many turtles each year, and their habitat in coastal marshes is shrinking.