March 19, 2024: Today the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission approves new regulations to help protect our horseshoe crabs. This is a great first step in ensuring that our horseshoe crab populations may survive another million years.
Mass Audubon was instrumental in the outreach and advocacy that led the way for these new regulations. Even prior the “in-person’ public meetings, MA DMF Director Dan McKiernan had received over 3000 emails commenting on the proposed regulations.
The work of Mark Faherty (Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary) cannot be underestimated. His presentations on the plight of horseshoe crabs were informative, entertaining, and convincing. No doubt they had significant impact on public opinion in support of the proposed regulations.
The new regulations will:
Prohibit all harvest during the period of April 15 – June 7 to protect spawning crabs.
Complement existing federal harvest closures within the boundaries of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge and the Cape Cod National Seashore.
Establish a 300 horseshoe crab trip limit for all bait fishers. This trip limit may automatically increase to 400 horseshoe crabs on August 1 if more than 50% of the quota remains available after July 31 or be automatically reduced to 200 horseshoe crabs should more than 80% of the annual quota be taken before September 15.
It is the opinion of CCHSC that this is just the first step in ensuring that horseshoe crabs have the protections they need. Bait harvesting, bio-medical harvest, and habitat loss will continue to negatively impact these prehistoric creatures.
But for today, “Commission Approves New Regulations” is a great first step!
Here’s the Cape Cod Times article:
And a Boston Globe “Letter to the Editor”:
Even under stricter rules, we’d still hasten horseshoe crabs’ demise
And the song…