Take Action – Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition

Take Action

The best way to recover our horseshoe crab populations is by building a movement. Sign up to connect to our campaign and receive alerts about developments in your state.

of horseshoe crabs?

Contact your state representative and ask that your state marine fish units devote more time to monitoring both the bait and blood industry. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) only recommends horseshoe crab quotas and methods of take to the states, but the states are the entities that actually regulate. Ask your representative to compel state marine agencies to better regulate the killing of horseshoe crabs or create a moratorium until the industry responds.

If you are a naturalist type, help us find spawning horseshoe crabs by reporting them to citizen science services such as iNaturalist. By locating and recording horseshoe crab spawning locations, we can help build a robust data-set that will help drive science-based efforts.

Contact your local congressional representative or senator to express why it's important not to allow commercial fishing interests to dominate decisions to kill horseshoe crabs for bait. Horseshoe crabs are not worthless - they are essential to a functioning ecosystem. You can also ask the federal government to stop the killing of crabs for their blood and speed the transition to the synthetic alternative known as rFC.

What can you do to stop the killing

PHOTO: Jan van de Kam / "Life on Delaware Bay" 
							

Create a state working group or join an existing group within the Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition to develop new volunteer-based surveys of horseshoe crabs to help determine their status. The ASMFC refuses to acknowledge the importance of horseshoe crab eggs, but working groups can do it for them. State working groups can also rescue horseshoe crabs from impingement and take part in the stewardship of horseshoe crabs and migratory shorebirds that depend on them.

The Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition is made up of organizations across the Atlantic Coast, from fishing captains to bird conservation organizations to biomedical companies, that all understand the critical role horseshoe crabs play in our marine ecosystem. Watch to find out how your organization can become a member of the HCRC.

Help spread the word by sharing our posts with your friends and followers on social media.

Twitter

Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition Follow

We are a coalition of conservation leaders aiming to reverse years of decline and fully restore one of the world's oldest living species by 2030.

Retweet on Twitter Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition Retweeted

BirdWatchingMagazine @birdwatchdaily ·

17 Nov

In a win for Red Knots and other migratory shorebirds, a commission protected female horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay — for now. http://ow.ly/Auo250LGtQW

Reply on Twitter 1593046320213741568 Retweet on Twitter 1593046320213741568 3 Like on Twitter 1593046320213741568 12 Twitter 1593046320213741568

Instagram

hscrabrecovery

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission vo

Load More... Follow on Instagram

Facebook

Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition

1 week ago

Female horseshoe crabs protected from bait harvest in Delaware Bay

ow.ly

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission voted last week to temporarily halt the harvest of female horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay.

View on Facebook