A horseshoe crab walking along a Cape beach, courtesy of Mass Audubon
BARNSTABLE – The state Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission recently approved new protections for horseshoe crabs, drawing praise from participants in a Mass Audubon campaign to protect their declining numbers.
Informed by the endorsements of scientists with the Department of Marine Fisheries, the measures will protect the threatened arthropods as they undergo the spawning periods in which they are most vulnerable.
The protections represent a hard-fought grassroots victory, as similar protections were rejected by the Commission last year.
According to wildlife biologists, horseshoe crab populations have fallen victim to overharvesting for their use as bait in the capture of whelk, as well as the harvesting of their blood for biomedical testing, and Massachusetts has fallen behind East Coast neighbors including New Jersey, Delaware, and South Caroline in passing regulations to protect the ancient species.
The cascading effects, they explain, affect not only the horseshoe crabs themselves but also bird species such as Red Knots which feed on their eggs during their migratory cycle.
“We’re ecstatic that the Commission did the right thing and enacted these common-sense regulations,” said Mass Audubon President David O’Neill.
“Protecting horseshoe crabs during spawning season is incredibly important to getting this keystone species back to historic population levels that are critical to the health of coastal ecosystems, including the migratory birds that rely on them.”
The announcement prompted a celebration by campaign supporters, public officials, and environmental advocates at Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary in Barnstable.
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