From Out of the Past - Part XIII

            The public pressures increased and fisheries managers were asked to develop a management plan for a species that had previously received low recognition from the general population and had not been subjected to any form of regulation.  Whatever legislation resulted would have profound impacts on the livelihood of commercial fishermen, several species of migratory shorebirds and, potentially, the horseshoe crabs themselves.  For many with ties to horseshoe crabs this was new territory; potentially a legislative land mine.  Demands for regulations escalated along with an escalation in the demand for crabs.  As the months and years passed populations of spawning horseshoe crabs throughout the Bay region began to decline.  There was a call to develop a coast-wide Horseshoe Crab Fishery Management Plan (FMP) – the goal being to balance the needs of the divergent user groups with the health and sustainability of the crab population.

            Eventually the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) adopted an FMP that included a state-by-state quota system to manage the coast-wide horseshoe crab harvest.  They also established an extensive reserve off the coasts of Delaware and New Jersey that would provide vital habitat protection for the development of sub-adult horseshoe crabs in an area that had been heavily harvested by trawlers.
            Despite a plethora of regulations, the debate continued and intensified.  Birders and environmental groups cited growing concerns over declines in shorebird populations and pressured for a moratorium on harvesting; fishermen felt scientific data on horseshoe crab populations was uncertain, that their harvests had already been cut back, and they lobbied for no further restrictions.  Obviously, the issues were many and were all inexorably intertwined.  There seemed to be no quick and easy solution.