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.

The U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) is currently accepting public comments to their recently proposed chapter that would make it easier for U.S. biomedical companies to use synthetic alternatives to test for contamination in vaccines and medical devices, instead of a product derived from the blood of horseshoe crabs, known as LAL.

Click here to add your name to a sign-on letter from the Center for Biological Diversity and tell the U.S. Pharmacopeia you support a synthetic alternative to horseshoe crab blood!

of horseshoe crabs?

- Report locations where you see horseshoe crabs spawning on iNaturalist.

- Rescue stranded horseshoe crabs. Many states have organizations that train and coordinate volunteers in crab rescue.

- Volunteer to assist with a horseshoe crab survey. Most states conduct beach surveys on certain spawning nights that may also include tagging 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 near a beach on the Atlantic coast where horseshoe crabs spawn, there are several ways to get involved through community science 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.

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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.

Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition @hscrabrecovery ·

26 Dec

As 2024 comes to a close, if you are looking to make an end-of-year donation, please consider the Coalition

Donations of $100 & up will receive a t-shirt as a thank you

Here's to 2025 & another year of work towards restoring horseshoe crab populations!

https://hscrabrecovery.org/donate/