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New Jersey stops harvesting horseshoe crabs
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Posted by ericwi (My Page) on Fri, Mar 31, 06 at 9:48
| -The New Jersey "Marine Fisheries Council" recently voted to uphold a proposed 2 year moratorium on harvesting horseshoe crabs on Delaware Bay. This was done to provide more food for an endangered migratory bird, the red knot. These birds feed on horseshoe crabs eggs, as they move north through Delaware Bay, to Canada. There were 34 fishermen with permits to harvest these crabs, and the annual take was said to be worth around $80,000. I suspect that this is a fraction of what the harvest had been in years past. Birdwatching is popular on Cape May, and these visitors spend money in the local economy, too. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: New Jersey stops harvesting horseshoe crabs
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| Maine lobster men are having a meeting here in Maine to discuss why the harvest are so low and reason is to believe that toxic residues from agricultiural chemical engineering is killing the lobsters off...that should be checked into as a culprit, the 2 year stoppage may mean nothing for the horseshoe crab return...its worth investigating, |
RE: New Jersey stops harvesting horseshoe crabs
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| More reading, always more reading...It turns out that horseshoe crab meat is the preferred bait for eels and whelks. There is something unique about horseshoe crab meat that attracts eels and whelk more effectively than other baits. That is why horseshoe crabs are being harvested commercially. Research is currently underway at the University of Delaware, into finding out what exactly makes horseshoe crab meat special. They want to make an artificial attractant so that other types of bait can be used to fish for eels and whelks, and therefore relieve the pressure on the population of horseshoe crabs. |
RE: New Jersey stops harvesting horseshoe crabs
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| I thought they'd already determined the lobster dieoff was related to the excessive spraying of mosquitos a few years back for West Nile Virus? The residue entered the waters and resulted in the dieoff of eggs on females. I'll try to find the article where I read that. |
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