July 24, 2023 — They’re prized by the biomedical community for their life-saving blue blood, but the increasing demand for horseshoe crabs is raising concerns about the well-being of the prehistoric species, prompting state regulators to set new harvesting limits.
The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has rolled out new regulations for the state’s horseshoe crab fishery that include a first-ever biomedical harvest quota.
Under the regulations, the biomedical catch quota would be set at 200,000 horseshoe crabs annually, and will be divided evenly among the handful of Massachusetts companies that process their blood for biomedical research and drug development.
“Capping total horseshoe crab harvest and mortality is the single most important conservation measure the state can take this year,” DMF said in a statement on the new regulations. “This eliminates the potential for uncontrolled growth in the biomedical fishery which could negatively impact the resource moving forward.”