The harvesting of horseshoe crabs from Connecticut waters will be banned in the state as of Oct. 1 to protect the species.
The governor’s office said fishermen have captured thousands of horseshoe crabs each year, often using them as bait for whelk and eel, and advocates were seeking legislation to bolster the ancient species so it doesn’t get harvested into extinction.
According to the National Wildlife Federation, horseshoe crabs are older than dinosaurs and have been around for more than 300 million years.
“The number of horseshoe crabs in Long Island Sound and throughout the Atlantic Coast has been severely depleted in recent years, raising concerns that this ancient species that has been around longer than the dinosaurs could be driven into extinction from overharvesting,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement.
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“This law says that we need to take a break and let this species regenerate and get back to a state of good health. I strongly urge our neighboring states to join this growing coalition and enact similar laws to protect the population in their waters,” Lamont added.
The governor’s office said organizations focused on the conservation of birds also expressed concerns that some migratory shorebirds rely on horseshoe crab eggs for food during the annual migration to the Arctic.
While state regulations and commercial fisheries partners have been working to reduce the impact on horseshoe crabs, the governor’s office said, a total ban was enacted out of an abundance of concern for the recovery of the population.
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Many horseshoe crabs are also captured by the biomedical industry, which uses blood from horseshoe crabs for vaccine research, according to the governor’s office.
And the law allows the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to issue permits that authorize the limited harvesting of horseshoe crabs only for scientific and educational purposes if it is determined that doing so will not harm the overall horseshoe crab population, according to the governor’s office.
The law will go into effect on Oct. 1.
Learn more about horseshoe crabs here.
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