June 26, 2026 — Tag No. 445308 surfaced once again at Napatree Point as a group of 14 surveyors headed back to their cars.
“This one has been out here for a couple of years now,” one surveyor said.
The 7-inch male horseshoe crab had been tagged on its right side at Napatree in 2020 on behalf of Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the horseshoe crab cooperative tagging program.
One volunteer who had never seen a horseshoe crab before watched 547 of them crawl along the shoreline June 12 during the survey with the Watch Hill Conservancy, which has tracked the population for 20 years.
Surveys take place during the full and new moons each late spring and early summer when the crabs come ashore to lay eggs. The data helps the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management track populations that have declined along the Atlantic Coast after decades of harvest pressure.
Debates remain about how much protection the species still needs in neighboring states and at the federal level. DEM is taking a measured approach by weighing whether additional rule changes are necessary, as survey data show a mixed picture of abundance.
“Our job as managers is to balance the multiple needs while ensuring that the population is sustainable,” DEM principal marine biologist Katie Rodrigue said.