Dear Team, I am pleased to begin reporting on the 26th year of the Delaware Bay Shorebird Project with a team almost back to pre-Covid condition minus our beloved Clive Minton. Over the last two years, a much smaller team continued the work under challenging conditions, but we can still boast an unbroken survey and trapping effort since 1997. Our Shorebird Project is one of the longest-running shorebird projects globally and perhaps one of the longest-running wildlife surveys in the US.
Results of aerial and ground count of red knots on Delaware Bay 1982-2021
It’s worth noting that the data from our shorebird surveys, the capture of over 60,000 shorebirds, including over 29,544 red knots, 27,026 ruddy turnstones, and 23,699 sanderlings, and the survey of horseshoe crabs and eggs, have been offered freely to credible scientists worldwide. More importantly, the data is a foundation for our battle to save the Delaware Bay stopover.
Pdf of recent paper on horseshoe crab eggs. Click for PDF
All this work has helped to preserve the stopover. Unfortunately, the Atlantic States Marine Fish Commission is again attempting to expand the harvest, justifying a resumption of the take of female horseshoe crabs with data they once rejected as biased. The agency misleads the public with statistical approximations of data that cannot be verified. Our view is we should not be killing any crabs.
The proof of our position for greater not less protection lies in the horseshoe crab egg count. This year we published a paper led by Joe Smith on the long-term trends of horseshoe crab eggs on Delaware Bay. We compared historic egg counts authorized by the NJ Fish and Wildlife in 1986 and 87 and similar data collected by Botton and Loveland in 1990 and 1991 when egg densities exceeded 50,000/ sq meter on the surface of the bay. Even when the bay remained below the threshold temperature for full spawning in 1987 egg densities exceeded 20,000 eggs/ meter square. Last year under perfect conditions we had just under 10,000 eggs/sq meter. This week the water temperature is well below normal and we have virtually no spawning crabs How does an agency confront this damning evidence that crabs are unrestored?
By ignoring it.
But our project remains committed to a scientific principle of getting to the truth of the condition of the bay stopover with real-world evidence, and we can all pray that one day the agencies will stop the industry from killing horseshoe crabs for bait or their blood. Why not a moratorium until full productivity? Its standard practice in the west coast fisheries.
This commitment is especially poignant because, over the time of Covid, we have transitioned to a team of all ages, with the center of gravity shifting to the young. Ten years ago, most of the team were middle-aged or older. Now, most of the Team are young adults, some in leadership positions. We all owe them a future for red knots, abundant horseshoe crabs, and a fully productive Delaware Bay.
Fishery agencies seem unconcerned about restoring this once bountiful estuary. Keeping horseshoe crabs at 1/5 of their potential production ( 10,000 egg/sq meter instead of 50,000 egg/sq meter) keeps the bay in a depleted state, and the victims aren’t just red knots. Carl Shuster, in his youth, established that most of the egg bounty went to small fish. These fish feed bigger fish, and Delaware Bay communities flourished with the income from anglers. The bay’s fishery is mostly depleted now, and the agencies wonder why. It’s like constantly drawing blood from a human and wondering why he feels so depleted.
We will continue our project over the next three weeks, and I will report as often as possible. This season will be a challenge for a variety of reasons. Right now, the water temperature is 5 degrees below normal. Let’s hope this improves before the full moon next week.
Horseshoe crabs support the entire marine community
