Saving Seafood

NEW YORK: New York to Phase In Protections for Horseshoe Crabs

January 2, 2025 — New York State will phase out the catch of horseshoe crabs in its waters for bait and biomedical use over the next four years, beginning in 2026.

Although supporters of the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act had urged an immediate ban, Gov. Kathy Hochul obtained the agreement of legislative leaders to reduce the catch by increments, leading to a total prohibition in 2029.

She said she had vetoed the bill a year ago because the earlier bill would not have given the fishing industry enough time to adapt.

The allowed catch, to be managed by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, will be reduced by 25 percent in 2026, 50 percent in 2027 and 75 percent in 2028 until the full ban goes into effect the next year.

Read the full article at The New York Times

ASMFC Schedules Delaware Bay Horseshoe Crab Management Stakeholder Workshop for January 29 & 30

December 22, 2025 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board is holding a stakeholder workshop January 29-30, 2026, in theSpinnaker Room at the Courtyard by Marriott Ocean City Oceanfront, Two 15th Street, Ocean City, Maryland. The workshop is the central event in an ongoing stakeholder engagement process to inform revisions to the Delaware Bay Horseshoe Crab Adaptive Resource Management (ARM) Framework. The process is being facilitated by Compass Resource Management with the goal of identifying stakeholder values and perspectives in order to develop clear, actionable recommendations for revising core functions of the ARM Framework that reflect stakeholder priorities.

The ARM Framework is a model used to set annual harvest levels for horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay region. It is designed to balance the needs of the horseshoe crab fishery with the ecological needs of migratory shorebirds, particularly the rufa red knot, which depends on horseshoe crab eggs as a food source. Within the ARM Framework, three mathematical functions—the Utility, Reward, and Harvest Policy (U/R/H) functions—serve to align the model with the values and interests of stakeholders. 

The purpose of the two-day values workshop is to develop quantitative values representing the interests of stakeholder groups for integration into the model as well as consensus recommendations for model updates. Fourteen individuals were selected to participate, representing a broad range of stakeholder perspectives, including commercial harvesters and dealers; biomedical industry representatives; and horseshoe crab, shorebird, and ecosystem conservationists.

A detailed meeting agenda will be posted here ahead of the workshop. Interested parties are welcome to attend the workshop as observers, but space is limited so please notify Caitlin Starks, Senior Fishery Management Plan Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org by January 16, 2026 if you plan to attend. For more information on the Commission and horseshoe crab management, please contact Caitlin Starks atcstarks@asmfc.orgor visit https://asmfc.org.

 The press release can also be found at https://asmfc.org/news/press-releases/asmfc-schedules-delaware-bay-horseshoe-crab-management-stakeholder-workshop-for-january-29-30-2026/

NEW YORK: Hochul Urged to Ban Horseshoe Crab Fishing

November 17, 2025 — Conservationists are pressing Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York to approve a ban on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs in state waters after she vetoed the same measure a year ago.

Supporters of the bill, which was passed by large majorities in both houses of the State Legislature last year and again in June, say New York must protect the ancient creatures, whose populations are declining in some places because of overfishing, loss of habitat and climate change, which floods beaches and warms oceans.

Reducing pressures on the crabs would help their ecological role, which includes providing food for migrating shore birds such as the red knot, a dwindling species that the federal government classified as threatened more than a decade ago.

The commercial fishing industry argues that a ban would wipe out livelihoods, damage local fisheries and ignore policies that have led the industry to reduce the number of crabs it uses for bait.

Read the full article at The New York Times

Horseshoe Crab Blood Has Long Helped Us Make Safe Medicines. Now, Alternatives That Spare the Ancient Creatures Might Be Breaking Through

October 28, 2025 — The American horseshoe crab is not the most glamorous or endearing animal. With its long, spiky tail, helmet-shaped shell and ten eyes, the 445-million-year-old species did not get this far relying on its good looks. But in this annual event, called a mass spawning, the crabs leave behind tens of thousands of eggs, which contribute to a wider ecosystem along the Eastern Seaboard and allow the ancient species to continue thriving.

Since the 1980s, humans have prized horseshoe crabs for another reason: The invertebrates’ light blue blood has likely benefitted anyone who has ever received a vaccine or flu shot. Equipped with a system that detects toxins as soon as they enter the crabs’ bloodstream, the blood is a key ingredient in a product that can detect contaminants in medicines. Pharmaceutical companies use the mechanism to ensure their drugs are safe. But amid concerns for the horseshoe crab population, conservationists, biotechnology experts and drug manufacturers alike have spent decades pushing for the adoption of synthetic alternatives that don’t harm the animal.

This spring, that effort reached a new milestone. For the first time, the industry’s primary regulatory body, the U.S. Pharmacopeia, officially recognized the alternatives as an option for companies to test vaccines. Now, 11 major pharmaceutical companies have reported an initial shift or intent to shift to these alternatives in a survey conducted by conservation groups. And the biggest producer of the blood-derived product publicly backed the crabless alternatives this summer.

Read the full article at Smithsonian Magazine

NY fishermen say horseshoe crab management is working

October 14, 2025 — Some ideas sound noble in theory but collapse under the weight of the facts. That’s the case with New York State Assembly Bill 4997 and Senate Bill 4289, legislation that would ban the harvest and sale of horseshoe crabs by New York’s licensed commercial fishermen

Proponents call it “protection.” In reality, it’s an unnecessary ban that would wipe out livelihoods, damage sustainable local fisheries, and ignore the very science-based efforts that state and federal regulators have built together.

Gov. Kathy Hochul understood that last year when she vetoed the same bill. At a time when some were pushing hard for an outright ban, she stood instead with science, with regulators, and with the men and women who make their living on the water. For that, New York’s fishing families are deeply grateful, and hopeful that she will again make the tough but right decision.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Studies find “troubling decline” of horseshoe crabs in Long Island Sound

September 18, 2025 — Researchers at Norwalk, Connecticut, U.S.A.-based The Maritime Aquarium claim new studies show a “troubling decline” in the horseshoe crab population within Long Island Sound.

“Horseshoe crabs are a cornerstone of estuarine ecosystems, and their decline is alarming in its own right but also has cascading consequences for other animals and ecological processes,” Maritime Aquarium Vice President of Conservation Sarah Crosby said in a release.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

These crabs probably saved your life. Can we save theirs?

August 18, 2025 — Susan Linder was hunting for buried treasure.

Kneeling at low tide, the biologist dug up small shovelfuls of sand, scanning each scoop for tiny jewels. One yielded a cluster of jade-colored beads. Another, from a few feet away, contained a clutch the color of amethyst.

They were eggs. In a few weeks, they would hatch into horseshoe crabs, one of the most ancient and important animals in the United States. The crabs in the Delaware Bay are the stars of an annual ecological opera involving sex, binge eating and literal bloodlust.

Every spring, the crabs clickety-clack ashore for a massive orgy timed to the rise and fall of the tides, depositing millions of eggs in the sand.

Read the full article at The Washington Post

Horseshoe Crab Board Approves Addendum IX Addendum Allows Multi-Year Specifications for Male-Only Harvest

May 8, 2025 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board approved Addendum IX to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Horseshoe Crabs. The Addendum allows the Board to set specifications for male-only harvest. It also establishes a method for managing male-only harvest limits during multi-year specifications periods, reestablishes seasonal harvest restrictions, and clarifies policy related to harvest caps for Maryland and Virginia.

Addendum IX responds to recommendations from the July 2024 Horseshoe Crab Management Objectives Workshop, which convened a group of stakeholders to explore management objectives for the Delaware Bay-origin horseshoe crab fishery. Workshop participants recommended the Board establish an interim solution to maintain male-only harvest while changes to the Adaptive Resource Management (ARM) Framework are explored to better align the model with stakeholder values.

The Addendum allows the Board to set multi-year specifications for up to three years until 2031 based on the ARM Framework. In interim years when the ARM is not used, the Board will manage maximum male harvest limits based on Delaware Bay region spawning survey data.  Addendum IX also reestablishes a harvest closure for the Delaware Bay region states from January 1 through June 7. Lastly, the Addendum clarifies the policy included in Addenda VII and VIII for applying Maryland and Virginia harvest caps; these caps further restrict harvest for Maryland and Virginia when female harvest is implemented in the Delaware Bay region.

Addendum IX will be available on the Commission website at https://asmfc.org/species/horseshoe-crab/ by next week. For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, Senior Fishery Management Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

Read the release from the ASMFC