Letter to the Editor: Senator requests delay in horseshoe crab-harvesting decision

Editor’s note: The following letter was also sent to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The agenda for today’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board meeting shows possible action on management response.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments for the record.

I am the state senator for the 10th Senate District in Delaware and also the chair of the Delaware Senate Environment & Energy Committee. Prior to serving in this capacity, I was an environmental scientist and hydrologist for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) for approximately eight years and an environmental attorney in private practice for approximately 19 years.

As an elected official, I understand how important it is to balance all of the varied interests in any environmental regulatory matter. It is also critically important that all scientific data be made available for review and analysis prior to changing key elements of any management plan affecting critically important species.

I have been following the discussion regarding the harvesting of horseshoe crabs within the Delaware Bay. To that end, I have had a number of discussions with DNREC Fish & Wildlife personnel, as well as other environmental organizations, in order to do my due diligence in assessing whether a moratorium on horseshoe crab harvesting is warranted within the state of Delaware. Since I have found that there is a split of opinion within the environmental community on whether additional restrictions on horseshoe crab harvesting is necessary, I have asked for additional data from DNREC.

Currently, I am waiting on a report jointly developed by DNREC, the U.S. Geological Survey and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection containing an assessment and estimate of the red knot population that utilized the entire Delaware Bay area during the spring 2021 migration. My understanding is that this report will become available within a few weeks. I am also waiting on data from DNREC regarding red knot body weights in Delaware during spring 2021. As you know, since the red knot bird species is dependent on a healthy horseshoe crab population for food, these are two important criteria for assessing the health of the horseshoe crab population in the Delaware Bay.

Even though Delaware does not allow horseshoe crab harvesting for biomedical purposes, this harvest occurs in other states. This harvest is of critical importance to our country during this unprecedented time of needing vaccines for our COVID-19 response. Your latest publication with data on the number of horseshoe crabs harvested for this purpose and their mortality in the 2020 fishing year, “Review of the Interstate Fishery Management Plan,” was approved on Oct. 21, 2021. On page 8 of the report, it states: “The 1998 FMP established a biomedical mortality threshold of 57,500 crabs that, if exceeded, requires the Board to consider management action. This threshold was exceeded in 2020. Results of the 2019 Benchmark Stock Assessment indicate that levels of biomedical mortality prior to 2017 (the terminal year of data used in the assessment), which were relatively consistent between 2013-2018 (with the exception of 2016), did not have a significant effect on horseshoe crab population estimates or fishing mortality in the Delaware Bay region. However, the average biomedical mortality in the last three years has been about 40% higher than the 2013-2017 average.”

As the pandemic raged through 2021, this spurred the need for more vaccine, so it should be expected that the harvest and the mortality will also be significantly increased, and we do not yet have that data. This past year, 2021, has been a year of very unusual demand for horseshoe crab blood, likely much more so than 2020. In order for us not to make a mistake in underestimating the effect of the biomedical industry on the crab population and the future demand on the biomedical industry as we make our way through this unpredictable pandemic, caution is best at this point.

On behalf of the residents in the 10th Senate District and as the chair of the Delaware Senate Environment & Energy Committee, I would like to respectfully request that any decision to revise the Adaptive Resource Management framework to be less restrictive on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay be delayed until such time as all of the data necessary to assess the health of the horseshoe crab population has been developed and reviewed.

Sen. Stephanie Hansen, D-Middletown