Saving Seafood

Horseshoe Crab Board Approves Draft Addendum IX for Public Comment to Consider Multi-Year Specifications for Male-Only Harvest

February 5, 2025 — The following was released by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission:

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board approved Draft Addendum IX for public comment. The Draft Addendum considers allowing the Board to set specifications for male-only harvest for multiple years. It also considers alternative methods for managing male-only harvest limits, seasonal harvest restrictions, and harvest caps for Maryland and Virginia.

Draft 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. The 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. Additionally, the Draft Addendum proposes an alternative method for setting maximum male harvest limits based on Delaware Bay region spawning survey data in years when the ARM Framework is not used.
Regarding seasonal closures for the Delaware Bay region states, Draft Addendum IX includes two options: to maintain the current seasonal closure of May 1 through June 7 or reestablish the longer closure from January 1 through June 7. The Board also added options to the Draft Addendum to establish a rule for applying Maryland and Virginia harvest caps included in Addenda VII and VIII.
A press release will follow with details on the public hearing schedule and how to submit written comments. The Board will meet to review submitted comments and consider final action on the addendum at its next meeting. For more information, please contact Caitlin Starks, Senior Fishery Management Coordinator, at cstarks@asmfc.org or 703.842.0740.

NEW YORK: Environmentalists Outraged Over Hochul’s Horseshoe Crab Bill Veto

December 27, 2024 — Environmentalists are outraged over Gov. Kathy Hochul’s recent decision to veto the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act, which prohibits the taking of horseshoe crabs from New York waters. The legislation would have allowed the populations to recover and ensured the survival of the important species, advocated said.

In her veto message, Hochul wrote: “This bill would prohibit the taking of horseshoe crabs for commercial or biomedical purposes and also extend the authority of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to manage crabs.”

She added: “DEC has significant rules and regulations regarding commercial and recreational fishing in the state and adheres to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission management plans to ensure healthy coastal fishery resources. DEC has already announced four lunar closures for the upcoming year to address concerns about overharvesting the horseshoe crab population.”

Also, Hochul said: “This bill could have unintended consequences on the management of other species such as whelk and eel, and could harm the commercial fishing industry and impair advancements in the biomedical field. While this bill is well-intentioned, the management of marine species is better left to the experts at DEC.”

She urged the legislature to restore DEC’s specific authority to regulate crabs, and said she was “directing DEC to evaluate and implement further administrative measures to protect this species pursuant to its broad authority to protect and regulate the state’s marine resources. Therefore, I am constrained to veto this bill.”

Read the full article at The Patch

Horseshoe Crabs, Bled For Vaccines, At Center Of MD Lawsuit

June 5, 2024 – June is a peak month for the horseshoe crab’s migration along the East Coast, following the high tides of each new and full moon. The annual movement of these “living fossils” dates back about 350 million years, so it’s believed to be the world’s oldest and largest wildlife migration.

But in a new lawsuit, an endangered species watchdog group says these crabs are in big trouble and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) isn’t being transparent about how many are killed each year.

The horseshoe crab is a “valuable commodity to humans,” according to DNR, because its copper-based blood is used for biomedical research. Their blood is used to detect toxins in drugs and medical devices. In 2021, Chesapeake Bay Magazine reported on their key role in developing COVID-19 vaccines, among others.

As DNR explains, the animals are fished for medical use by specially permitted fishing operations. Their blood is drawn in a biomedical facility and they are released back into the water. But environmental groups raise questions about how many of those released horseshoe crabs can survive and thrive.

Read the full article at the Chesapeake Bay Magazine 

MARYLAND: Lawsuit alleges Maryland wildlife authorities withheld data on horseshoe crabs

June 3, 2024 — Maryland wildlife managers are accused in a new lawsuit of keeping data secret from environmental groups seeking to protect a unique coastal crab species that is harvested for critical biomedical products.

The species is the horseshoe crab. High-value blood taken from the crabs is used to create products that protect medicines, vaccines and medical devices from contamination.

Read the full article at WFAA

 

MASSACHUSETTS: Safe to reproduce: horseshoe crabs enjoy new protections on local beaches

June 3, 2024 — At Stage Harbor in Chatham, Derek Perry, the state’s horseshoe crab biologist, walks the shoreline, counting how many horseshoe crabs fall within a 25-square-meter area.

It’s not an easy task, especially when the males in the group are clamoring to reach the limpet-and-seaweed encrusted females. But after a few moments, he’s satisfied with the count.

“That’s 67 crabs in a five-by-five-square-meter quadrat,” Perry said. “So it’s a fair number.”

Of them, 61 are male, and each is trying to latch onto one of the six females in the area. According to Perry, it’s pretty easy to identify the sex of a horseshoe crab at a distance, because the females are 30% bigger, and the males form a “conga line” behind them.

Read the full article at CAI

Conservation efforts being made to save Maryland horseshoe crabs. Here’s why it’s important.

May 23, 2024 — Conservation efforts are in the works to save endangered horseshoe crabs as they begin migration onto Maryland beaches.

Protecting the horseshoe crab is crucial as the ancient species play a vital role in the aquatic ecosystem and the field of medicine.

“They will be coming in with the full moons and laying eggs on the beaches,” said Toni Kerns, a fisheries policy director.

From May through July, female horseshoe crabs will lay about 20,000 eggs.

“Their eggs are a food source for migrating shorebirds,” Kerns said. “They are also preyed upon by larger species like sharks and sea turtles.”

Read the full article at CBS News

Horseshoe crabs, prized by the biomedical industry for their blood, to get new protections in Massachusetts

March 20, 2024 — As the weather warms each year on Cape Cod, an ancient species older than dinosaurs crawls up just below the sandy shores to spawn. Then in the midst of their mass mating event, the unlucky ones are plucked up by fishermen and pharmaceutical companies alike: Horseshoe crabs as good for bait as they are for testing new vaccines using their bright blue blood.

But this year, horseshoe crabs in Massachusetts will return to uninhibited procreation. For the first time, the state will ban collecting the crabs during the animal’s spawning season.

Massachusetts’ protections for the crabs have long lagged behind other states with biomedical fisheries. The new ban will put Massachusetts on the other side of the spectrum with among the strictest regulations on horseshoe crab harvesting in the country. The controversial ban was approved Tuesday after a commission that represents the fishing industry gave its blessing; the regulation still awaits final approval by the governor, which is expected this spring.

The blood of horseshoe crabs, which are more similar to scorpions or spiders than crabs, is the main ingredient in an important pharmaceutical test to determine whether vaccines are safe to administer to humans. Their blood has been used to test vaccines for contamination since the 1970s because it naturally clots around harmful bacteria. An alternative synthetic test has been developed but has not yet been approved by US drug regulators for widespread use.

Read the full article at The Boston Globe

MASSACHUSETTS: Mass. proposes new protections for horseshoe crabs

February 15, 2024 — The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries is proposing new regulations that would prohibit harvesting horseshoe crabs during the spring spawning season, from April 15 to June 7. Horseshoe crabs are harvested for bait and also for use in the biomedical industry.

Federal law already prohibits horseshoe crab harvest within the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge and the Cape Cod National Seashore. But stricter state rules would align Massachusetts with other states’ regulations, according to the proposal from Division of Marine Fisheries director Daniel McKiernan. Massachusetts is one of four states where horseshoe crabs can be harvested for both bait and biomedical uses, and has the weakest protections of the four.

Read the full article at wbur

Endangered Species Protections Sought for Prehistoric Creature

February 14, 2024 — Ancient creatures with 12 legs, 10 eyes, and blue blood were once so prevalent on southern New England beaches that people, including children, were paid to kill them.

Their helmet-like bodies can still be seen along the region’s coastline and around its salt marshes, but in a fraction of the numbers witnessed seven decades ago. There are many reasons why.

In the 1950s coastal New England paid fishermen and others bounties to kill the up to 2-feet-long arachnids — horseshoe crabs are more closely related to spiders, scorpions, and ticks than to crabs — because they interfered with human enjoyment of the shore and were viewed as shellfish predators.

People, not just fishermen, were reportedly encouraged to toss horseshoe crabs above the high-tide line, so they would dry out and die. They were labeled “pests” and ground up for fertilizer. Beachfront property owners were apparently concerned the creature’s presence and their decaying death would impact real estate values.

Those ignorant days may be over, but horseshoe crabs are facing other threats to their existence.

The Center for Biological Diversity, an Arizona-based nonprofit, and 22 partner organizations recently petitioned NOAA Fisheries to list the Atlantic horseshoe crab as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. Horseshoe crab populations have crashed in recent decades because of overharvesting and habitat loss, according to the petitioners.

“Horseshoe crabs are imminently threatened by habitat loss, overexploitation, inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms, and other natural and manmade factors, including climate change,” according to the 142-page petition. “They are in danger of extinction across a significant portion of their range, and threats are likely to persist and worsen in the foreseeable future.”

The body-armored arthropods — also known as the American horseshoe crab, because they are the only living species of horseshoe crab native to the Americas — are used by the biomedical industry, which takes the animal’s copper-based blood for tests to ensure that medical devices, vaccines, and intravenous solutions are free of harmful bacteria.

Horseshoe crab blood harvests have doubled since 2017, with nearly a million horseshoe crabs harvested for their blood in 2022, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. The petition noted synthetic alternatives to horseshoe crab blood tests are already being used in Europe, but companies in the United States have been slow to adopt the alternatives.

Read the full article at ecorRI

Endangered species listing sought for horseshoe crabs

February 13, 2024 — Apetition filed Feb. 12 with NOAA Fisheries seeks federal Endangered Species Act protection for the American horseshoe crab, a long-ubiquitous species whose populations have  “crashed in recent decades because of overharvesting and habitat loss,” according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

The center and 22 other environmental groups from the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico states want regulators to restrict horseshoe crab harvests for commercial whelk and eel fisheries, and for crab blood used by biomedical companies.

“We’re wiping out one of the world’s oldest and toughest creatures,” said Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These living fossils urgently need Endangered Species Act protection. Horseshoe crabs have saved countless human lives, and now we should return the favor.”

Horseshoe crabs come ashore in spring along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, laying their eggs in massive beach spawning events. One of the largest gatherings happens on Delaware Bay beaches, where the concentrations of crabs eggs attract migrating shorebirds including red knots.

But “horseshoe crab populations have declined by two-thirds in the Delaware Bay, their largest population stronghold,” according to the Center for Biological Diversity. Early alarms over declining crab and shorebird numbers led New Jersey officials to first restrict commercial crab harvests in the late 1990s.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman