UPDATE ARCHIVES

UPDATE:  Conservation Coalition Hits a Home Run on March 10, 2004 to Help Secure the Conservation of Shorebirds and Horseshoe Crabs

The Delaware Bay hosts the second highest concentration of shorebirds in North American.  Each spring up to 1 million individuals of 9 species stop on the Delaware Bayshore to gorge themselves on fat-rich horseshoe crab eggs. 

On Wednesday, March 10, 2004, NJ Audubon’s campaign to conserve shorebirds and horseshoe crabs on the Delaware Bay set national history.  The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission adopted national marine policy which achieved the following conservation measures: 

1. Lowered Horseshoe Crab Quotas in 4 states – 643,000 fewer crabs will now be caught than in 2002!!

a. NJ from 293,000 to 150,000
b. DE from 361,000 to 150,000
c. MD from 230,000 to 170,000
d. NY (voluntarily) from 366,000 to 150,000

2. Restricted harvest of crabs in NJ and DE from May 1 to June 7.  This will ensure increased presence of spawning crabs during spring shorebird stopover.

3. Encourages states to reuse crabs caught for biomedical purposes to be resold as bait and counting towards the state’s quota.  Since ~10% of all bled crabs die, reusing them for bait will reduce total mortality (bait + biomedical). 

NJ Audubon Society started this campaign nearly 2 decades.  Our most recent efforts launched in 2002 have resulted in strong, conservation-minded fisheries policies in the states of NJ and DE and most recently at the national level.  This is the first time that a non-marine suite of species (shorebirds) has driven marine fisheries policy.  This has been hearkened as a watershed moment where the insular marine fish councils are now expanding their visions to include conservation of non-marine species. 

NJ Audubon’s effort has included playing a leadership role among a strong and diverse coalition including American Littoral Society, Delaware Riverkeeper, Sierra Club, National Audubon Society (national, state and chapters), American Bird Conservancy, Defenders of Wildlife, Citizens for the Environment and several state/regional ornithological societies.   

Commissioner Campbell (NJDEP) and Secretary Hughes (DE Natural Resources) deserve much credit for playing a national leadership role on this issue 

NJ Audubon’s future efforts will include seeking federal listing for the Red Knot Atlantic Flyway (rufa subspecies) population and support for biomedical reforms and DE Bay spawning beach restoration.   

Two recent publications have highlighted the plight of Red Knots: 

1. In a recent publication in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London (2004), Dr. Baker et al. made the following findings and conclusion, “From 1997-2002 known survivors in Delaware Bay were heavier at initial capture than birds never seen again, annual survival of adults decreased by 37% between May 2000 and May 2001, and the number of second year birds in wintering flocks declined 47%...  Population size in Tierra del Fuego declined alarmingly from 53,000 to 27,000 in 2000-2002, seriously threatening the viability of this subspecies. Demographic modelling predicts imminent endangerment and an increased risk of extinction of the subspecies without urgent risk-averse management.”

2. Similarly, Dr. Morrison et al. (2004) reported in Condor that “Surveys of the North American race of the Red Knot (Calidris canutus rufa) on its main wintering areas on the coasts of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (Argentina and Chile) showed a dramatic decline in the wintering population: totals in 2003 were about 30 000 compared to 67 500 in the mid-1980s.  Numbers at the principal wintering site, Bahia Lomas, fell by approximately 50%, from 45 300 in 2000 to 22 000-25 000 in 2002-2003.  Numbers at peripheral sites on the coast of Patagonia declined dramatically, decreasing 98% compared to numbers in the mid-1980s… Possible reasons for the declines are discussed.  Banding studies in Delaware Bay have shown that in recent years an increasing proportion of Red Knots is unable to gain sufficient weight for migration to the breeding grounds.  This is likely due to reductions in their main food resource, eggs of the horseshoe crab Limulus polyphemus.  The resulting increase in mortality could account for the magnitude and severity of the declines we observed.”

An Update: September, 2003

Over a decade ago, New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS) responded to declining shorebird numbers on the Delaware Bayshore by initiating a conservation and research campaign.  In fall 2002, research from the New Jersey Endangered and Nongame Species Program and NJAS showed alarming decreases in shorebird numbers and weight gain rates, especially in the state-listed threatened Red Knot.  This alarming trend was linked to overharvest of horseshoe crabs for use as bait.

In response, New Jersey Audubon and its conservation partners, including the American Littoral Society, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, and the Sierra Club, launched an initiative to halt the harvest of horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay.  We have since won a series of victories for horseshoe crabs and the shorebirds that depend on them.

Thanks in large part to the efforts of New Jersey Audubon, its members, and its partners, the states of New Jersey and Delaware have instituted more conservation-minded rules regarding horseshoe crab harvesting.  In April 2003, New Jersey and Delaware established emergency regulations more protective of crab and shorebird populations.  The Delaware regulations were stayed by a judge on procedural grounds.  Protections were strengthened in August, when both states instituted rigorous permanent restrictions on the harvest of horseshoe crabs.

In both New Jersey and Delaware, statewide annual harvest limits have been reduced to 150,000 horseshoe crabs, harvests are being closely monitored, and a ban on the taking of horseshoe crabs from May 1 through June 7 has been established.  The regulations also require the use of bait-saving which reduce consumption of horseshoe crabs, and restrict access to beaches important to horseshoe crabs and shorebirds during peak spawning season.

The good news extends beyond New Jersey and Delaware.  The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, composed of the fifteen Atlantic coast states, is also in the process of tightening restrictions on horseshoe crab harvesting in all member states.  Our coalition has begun laying the foundation for possible listing of the Red Knot rufa subspecies as federally endangered.

Though the new rules are a step in the right direction, NJAS continues to advocate for even stronger regulations.  Given the severity of the population decline, a complete moratorium on horseshoe crab harvesting is necessary until a sound management plan is completed.  This is a critical time for Delaware Bay’s horseshoe crabs and shorebirds, and these new measures are important, but not sufficient, steps toward saving the shorebirds.

Eric Stiles
Vice President for Conservation & Stewardship

Click Here to return to the main Horseshoe Crab/Shorebird Conservation Campaign page.