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For Immediate Release
No Moratorium on Horseshoe Crab Harvest Means Serious Trouble for the Red Knot Shorebird
state and municipal-based conservation
Washington, DC − Today the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Horseshoe Crab Management Board denied the critically imperiled rufa subspecies of the red knot a new lease on life by failing to impose a two-year moratorium on the annual take of horseshoe crabs in New Jersey and Delaware. Instead, the board opted only for a reduction in fishing quotas, still permitting each state to take 100,000 male crabs each year. The moratorium would have been a critical step to ensure the survival of the red knot, which has experienced a sharp decline in numbers over the past several years. The bird relies solely on horseshoe crab eggs during an annual stopover at the Delaware Bay on its arduous 10,000 mile migration from the tip of South America to the Arctic. Without the fat-rich diet of horseshoe crab eggs, the bird’s ability to successfully complete its long-distance migration to its breeding grounds in the Arctic is severely compromised. A drastic increase in the take of horseshoe crabs in the mid-1990s for use as bait in conch pots has significantly diminished their numbers in the bay and consequently the bird’s food supply, jeopardizing the red knot to the point where scientists have predicted that the bird could go extinct as soon as 2010.
“The science is clear: we need to do all we can to prevent the extinction of this magnificent bird,” said Caroline Kennedy, Director of Field Conservation for Defenders of Wildlife. “The moratorium would have increased the availability of eggs on the beach thereby increasing the birds’ chances of survival. It is extremely disappointing that twelve states chose to oppose the wishes of Delaware and New Jersey, which sought the moratorium in their respective states.”
“The ASMFC failed to follow the science-based leadership of New Jersey and Delaware,” said Perry Plumart, Director of Conservation Advocacy for American Bird Conservancy. “The ASMFC again put commercial fishing interests ahead of science and economics which could doom the red knot. While we welcome the increased regulation on the take of horseshoe crabs, we still don't believe this goes far enough.”
Each spring, red knots arrive by the thousands to the Delaware Bay to the delight of birders along the coast. Since the late 1990s, scientists and birders have observed a worrisome decline in the number of birds arriving in the Delaware Bay. Historically, more than 100,000 red knots stopped at Delaware Bay. By 2004, this number had dropped to 13,315 birds. Winter surveys confirmed a forty percent decrease in the population from January 2004 to January 2005 when the number of birds dropped from 30,778 to 17,653. A January 2006 count confirmed the decline when it found 17,211 birds. Since massive numbers of horseshoe crabs were taken for the fishery, the density of horseshoe crab eggs has declined from an average of 40,000 eggs per square meter to fewer than 2,000 in 2005. The number of birds able to double their weight while at the bay has seen a corresponding drop with only fourteen percent of birds in 2005 reaching the necessary weight of 185 grams to make their long journey.
“This is a sad day for birds and for birders,” said Rich Rieger, President of the Northern Virginia Bird Club. “Our annual visits to the Delaware Bay are surely going to be curtailed due to the ever shrinking population of beautiful red knots. Our natural heritage and resources are our responsibility to protect. We should have taken this modest step to protect this treasure.”
“Since New Jersey Audubon Society (NJAS) conducted the first bay-wide survey of over one million shorebirds on the Delaware Bay in 1982, NJAS has been working to promote and protect our Serengeti,” said Eric Stiles, Vice President for Conservation at the New Jersey Audubon Society. “We are disappointed by the lack of action taken today. The ASMFC could have secured this internationally significant ecological gem for future generations.”
“Today’s inaction by the ASMFC shows they do not recognize the essential interrelationship between these two incredible species and the need to restore the ecological balance to ensure their continued existence,” said Nicholas DiPasquale, Conservation Chair for Delaware Audubon.
“The red knot is an international treasure, and we are saddened that the ASMFC did not vote to support the two-year moratorium that would have helped the birds during the crucial stopover in the Delaware Bay,” said Greg Butcher, Director of Bird Conservation at the National Audubon Society.
“The message the ASMFC should have sent to the region, the country and the world is that the Mid-Atlantic States recognize our community and international obligation to take the actions necessary to protect the delicate and vulnerable relationship that exists between the crabs and the birds,” said Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum.
"This Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission failure to implement a moratorium on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs puts in jeopardy an irreplaceable treasure on the Delaware Bay Region,” said Tim Dillingham, Executive Director, of the American Littoral Society.
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