SOURCE:
https://www.eastendbeacon.com/pushing-hochul-to-protect-horseshoe-crabs/
November 20, 2024
The New York State Legislature passed a bill last June banning the harvesting of horseshoe crabs for bait and biomedical purposes, and environmental groups are pressuring Governor Kathy Hochul to sign the bill before the end of the year.
Connecticut and New Jersey already have bans on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs in place, and Massachusetts has strict restrictions on their harvest.
Group for the East End has launched a letter-writing campaign asking for Gov. Hochul’s signature, while renowned conservation biologist Dr. Jane Goodall has joined Citizens Campaign for the Environment’s (CCE) letter-writing campaign to the governor.
Concurrently, the Center for Biological Diversity is petitioning the federal government to list the American Horseshoe Crab as an endangered or threatened species, noting in its petition that “multiple studies have indicated a significant decline of the American horseshoe crab in Connecticut and New York.”
Horseshoe crabs are frequently used as bait by conch and eel fishermen here, while their blood is used in the biomedical field to test for bacterial contamination in intravenous fluids, vaccines and medical devices.
But there are alternatives to these uses, says Group for the East End Director of Conservation Advocacy Jennifer Hartnagel, who is giving a Nov. 30 talk on horseshoe crab conservation at the East Marion Community Association’s monthly meeting.
Ms. Hartnagel said she’s been in contact with staff at State Assembly Member Deborah Glick’s office, who have informed her that there has been some opposition to the governor’s signature from local fisheries, represented by the Long Island Farm Bureau, and the office also “did get some pushback from some pharmaceutical companies, though there are no licenses for biomedical purposes in New York State.”
Ms. Hartnagel said the ban in Connecticut, which went into effect this year, could lead pharmaceutical companies to attempt to find new harvest areas.
“We’d like to see New York take similar action as Connecticut. It only makes sense, because we have a shared water body (the Long Island Sound),” she said. “Conch and eel dont eat horseshoe crabs in the wild. We need to work together to find alternatives.”
She added that pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly are already using synthetic compounds similar to those found in horseshoe crab blood to test its vaccines for bacterial contamination.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission sets the total commercial bait harvest limit for New York State at about 300,000 crabs per year, and the state “has voluntarily reduced the permitted annual harvest of horseshoe crabs in New York State to a total of 150,000 crabs” per year, according to the DEC, with a limit of 100 crabs daily.
“They meet that quota every year,” said Ms. Hartnagel. “And that 150,000 is what is self-reported by fishermen. There has always been the issue of illegal harvesting.”
Proponents of the ban believe it will keep horseshoe crabs from extinction and allow the populations to recover.
“I believe New York has an opportunity to lead in this conservation effort. By signing this bill, you can ensure the survival of the horseshoe crab and the many species that depend on it,” said Dr. Goodall in her Nov. 12 letter to Ms. Hochul, provided to the press by CCE. “I have devoted my life to preserving the planet and I hope together, we can make a lasting difference in this important corner of the world.”
“It’s a rare and special event when Dr. Goodall reaches out and requests New York help her in saving our planet’s endangered species. Governor Hochul should heed the wisdom and vision that Dr. Goodall provides and immediately sign this important legislation,” said Adrienne Esposito, Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment.
CCE points out that horseshoe crabs have roamed the earth for over 350 million years and shared this planet with the dinosaurs, but is now vulnerable to local extinction.
“Here on Long Island, there is a documented population decline with no end in sight,” according to the Group for the East End, in their letter writing campaign. “While horseshoe crabs have played an integral role in the biomedical and commercial fishery industries, it has been to their detriment. Alternatives for biomedical use of horseshoe crab blood exist and have become mainstream. If alternatives are not utilized for commercial bait, the horseshoe crab population will likely continue to decline beyond repair. What impacts might this have on the fishery industry if action isn’t taken?”
The East End’s three state legislators — State Senator Anthony Palumbo and State Assembly members Fred Thiele and Jodi Giglio, had voted against the bill, which was sponsored by two Manhattan legislators — Assembly Member Deborah Glick and State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal.
Ms. Giglio advocated against its passage on the Assembly floor, stating that that, of the 150,000 horseshoe crabs that could have been caught last season, fishermen caught only 40,000.
“Spawning is happening, and the number of horseshoe crabs has increased,” she said, adding that “shoreline hardening is spawning areas for horseshoe crabs, where nobody can get them.”
“Not only is this bill going to hurt the commercial fishermen on the East End of Long Island, it’s also going to hurt restaurants up west in the Queens area, who come to the East End of Long Island to get the conch and eel for their restaurants. There has not been an alternative as to what you can use for bait for that type of species. I feel like we are turning the ecosystem on its head. The DEC is doing a good job with the limited permits they issue. We do not want to put commercial fishermen out of business.”
Ms. Giglio’s testimony runs contrary to the well-documented use by horseshoe crabs of sandy beaches for spawning, and to research by Peconic Estuary Program Marine Conservation and Policy Fellow Abigail Costigan, who recently found that “increased water levels and increasingly frequent and severe storms are already reducing the availability of the estuarine beach habitat that horseshoe crabs require to spawn. This is especially true in places where bulkheads and other hardened structures on the shoreline prevent beaches from moving inland. It is critical that we protect horseshoe crabs now and allow their populations to grow as they increasingly face the loss of spawning habitat.”
According to the Center for Biological Diversity’s research backing its petition, in the Long Island Sound, in “of 68 beaches monitored in a 2015 study, there was an 8.2 percent increase in beaches exhibiting no breeding activity and horseshoe crabs have declined by 1 percent per year. The Long Island Sound horseshoe crab population is being overharvested and continues to decline, a trend observed since the mid-1990s.
Dr. Jennifer Mattei, detailing 20 years of research on the population ecology of the
American horseshoe crab population in Long Island Sound, concluded in CBD’s report that “the
population is in decline, and due to very low population numbers, the horseshoe crab is
functionally extinct in Long Island Sound.”
