Many of us may have found colorful crab trap markers washed up on our bay beaches. Perhaps we hung them on sheds or garages, creating a sort of shore folk-art tableau. There is something irresistible about these colorful buoys; tangled with rope and eelgrass, their incongruous colors are a vivid contrast with the subtler tones of the coast.

But how many people consider the number of diamondback terrapin drownings they represent?