From Out of the Past - Part XII

          Horseshoe crabs are also used as bait in the Delaware Bay whelk pot fishery industry.  Domestically, whelk meat is used principally in ethnic markets in the Northeast United States, whereas international use is concentrated in Asia.  Whelk fishing has grown substantially over the years due primarily to the rules and restrictions placed on other fisheries.  Several Canadian provinces are stepping up efforts to produce raw whelk meat products for markets in Korea, Japan and China.  Just as in the eel industry, whelk pot fishermen typically used whole crabs (one female [preferred] or two males) to bait each pot.
          For many years the eel and whelk markets were relatively small and largely unregulated. However, they were closely tied to horseshoe crabs; simply because the crabs were the bait of choice for capturing these seafood delicacies.  Then, in the latter part of the 20th century the markets – particularly in the Orient – expanded exponentially.  More people wanted more eel and more people wanted more conch.  This could only mean one thing - a rapidly expanding need for horseshoe crabs as eel and whelk bait.
          Not surprisingly, the demand for horseshoe crabs exploded as well.  Large boats trawled and dredged the bottom of Delaware Bay during spawning season gathering thousands of crabs at one time.  Large refrigerated tractor-trailers lined the roadways flanking Delaware Bay beaches to collect these masses of crabs and haul them away to New York, Massachusetts, and Virginia.  It was a time for making lots of money and anyone with access to a flatbed truck or large transport vehicle could make a considerable sum of cash in a short amount of time.
          Just as the horseshoe crab population was beginning to rebound due to the demise of the fertilizer industry, the “crabs-for-bait” pressure was added to the mix.  Since horseshoe crabs take approximately 9-11 years to reach sexual maturity, the mass harvesting of egg-laden females had the potential to have a significant and potentially negative effect on populations…perhaps for many years.  Added into this formula was an epidemic of studies indicating that migrating shorebirds, which are dependent upon horseshoe crabs eggs for their ultimate survival, might also be negatively impacted.
          Pressures increased.  There was an environmental pressure on horseshoe crabs from the watermen who need the crabs for bait, a market pressure from the eel and conch industry for adequate supplies of this food source – a food source that was caught primarily with the use of crabs as bait, and a conservation pressure from environmentalists and birders who were afraid that substantial declines in crab populations would translate into substantial declines in shorebird populations.  An additional pressure from the biomedical industry on their need for horseshoe crabs for LAL bleeding made for an interesting and most problematic environmental and economic conundrum.  The horseshoe crab “industry” needed to be managed to ensure the survival of the species as well as the survival of all the constituents dependent upon this prehistoric creature.  By the mid 1990s there was a siren call for legislation.

---