Let's work together to restore horseshoe crabs to Massachusetts' Beaches!
Let's work together to restore horseshoe crabs to Massachusetts' Beaches!
Deborah Cramer
The Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens Alliance is an all-volunteer organization that builds partnerships to conserve the globally rear Massachusetts Coastal Pine Barrens. Participating in the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (MDMF) Spawning Horseshoe Crab Survey Program over the past four years, we have grown concerned about the low numbers of spawning horseshoe crabs, given their historical abundance.
We want to better understand horseshoe crabs: especially their critical role in human health and the bleeding of crabs by the biomedical industry; how the MDMF determines horseshoe crab regulations and sets limits for their harvest for bait, and their function in the global ecosystem—particularly in their evolutionary ability to sustain migrating shorebirds on long intercontinental migrations.
These questions have led us to propose a statewide initiative to ensure that horseshoe crabs survive another 450 million years and, in that process, restore the web of life to Massachusetts' beaches and estuaries. Please join the coalition to advocate for horseshoe crabs. Horseshoe crabs need your help!
Don't hesitate to contact us.
I think it’s safe to say that now that Massachusetts is now the largest regulatory loophole for horseshoe crabs on the eastern seaboard. It has one of the largest horseshoe crab bait takes, and now two large biomedical companies bleeding horseshoe crabs for LAL, and the largest rent-a-crab program (where crabs are bled and rather than returned to the sea, are sold for bait and killed), and more holding pens (where crabs await bleeding, spawning in the water rather than on beaches) than any other state, and the largest male to female horseshoe crab sex ratios of any state.
—Deborah Cramer
When the Horseshoe Crabs Are Gone, We’ll Be in Trouble.
Deborah Cramer. New York Times. Feb. 16, 2023.
"In the United States, fishermen take some 1.4 million each year, killing almost half for use as bait. Pharmaceutical companies capture and extract blood from the other 700,000 to make the endotoxin test before releasing them to the sea. Up to 30 percent may die as a result. Many others never make it to shore to lay their eggs.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature considers horseshoe crabs in the United States vulnerable to extinction along much of the East Coast and endangered in New England. Over 20 years of regulation of the horseshoe crab fishery by coastal states has failed to restore these ancient animals to their former abundance."
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/opinion/drug-safety-horsehoe-crab.html.
The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program has received our proposal to state list the American horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) as a Special Concern Species.
You can view the proposal here:
The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries proposal to the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission regarding potential amendments to the state’s horseshoe crab management regulations.
MARINE FISHERIES ADVISORY COMMISSION BUSINESS MEETING
https://www.mass.gov/orgs/marine-fisheries-advisory-commission
Future Meeting Dates:
8:30 AM March 21, 2023 via Zoom.
9:30 AM April 11, 2023 DFW Field HQ 1 Rabbit Hill Road Westborough, MA 01581.
10:00 AM May 16, 2023 Emergency Services Bldg 215 Spring Street Tisbury, MA 02568.
The Duke All Swell? team is joined by Dr. David Mizrahi, Vice President of Research and Monitoring at New Jersey Audubon. David is also one of the founders of the Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition, an organization dedicated to ensuring the future of the American Horseshoe Crab.
In this episode we hear from David about the surprising connection between two species: the Atlantic horseshoe crab and an endangered shorebird, the Red Knot. We learn about Red Knot migration, their reliance on horseshoe crab eggs, and how human industries have interfered with these populations. David shares insight about how the Coalition is working to protect the American horseshoe crab and how listeners can get involved.
To learn more about the Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition, visit https://hscrabrecovery.org/.