DELMARVA - Multiple organizations including the Center for Biological Diversity are asking the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries to classify the American horseshoe crab as an endangered species.
On February 12th, the Center for Biological Diversity and 22 other organizations officially petitioned NOAA Fisheries to add the crabs as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. The groups say the horseshoe crab populations have plummeted due to overharvesting and habitat loss.
The crabs are a species twice as old as the dinosaurs, frequenting our coasts for 450 million years, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. However, the animals have seen a two-third decline in the past three decades in the Delaware Bay, the Center says.
“We’re wiping out one of the world’s oldest and toughest creatures,” said Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “These living fossils urgently need Endangered Species Act protection. Horseshoe crabs have saved countless human lives, and now we should return the favor.”
Commercial whelk and eel fisheries harvest the crabs as bait while biomedical companies use the crabs’ blue blood to detect toxins in drugs and medical devices. The petitioners say even though the horseshoe crab populations have crashed, regulators have increased horseshoe crab harvest quotas.
Habitat loss was also cited as a factor in the crabs’ plight, with spawning beaches impacted by development, shoreline hardening, and sea-level rise.
The various conservation groups say that protections under the Endangered Species Act are urgently needed to restore the horseshoe crab populations.