We ruin everything we touch.
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Never is a very long time to say something will not happen. It is like saying that measles will never be a problem again.
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As a child, we'd go to places like Slaughter Beach and Prime Hook to go to the shore. Those places were literally crawling with horseshoe crabs. It is so sad, once again, to see human greed in action and destroying another one of God's amazing creatures. David Brooks wrote today of the GOP apocalypse. Events like this feed into the reasons young Americans are abandoning the GOP. Please wake up!
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I will always remember what my dear departed mother said about the annual mating on the full moon in June on Fire Island. She wanted to have nature walks to see the horseshoe crabs mating on the bay-front of Kismet, followed by watching the numerous couples doing the same thing on the ocean beach.
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The earth is dying.
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We are killing the planet
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@Joe B. And humans are killing it.
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Is there a ban on harvesting female horseshoe crabs in NY State?While on Dune Road in Southampton, NY this weekend, I observed a horseshoe crab "harvester" gathering literally hundreds of female crabs, one by one, and throwing them into his truck. He would methodically smack the male crabs off the females, leaving the males behind. I felt helpless.
I am confused to learn, in this article, that there is supposedly a ban on the harvesting of female horseshoe crabs. The females are the ones that fetch money, said the "harvester" when I asked, because they're larger, .
I think basically there is no enforcement. How or to whom does one report such harvesting?
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@sher This is criminal. Given what people have done to the crab population, a ban on harvesting should be put in place until the population -- and the birds that rely on that population-- fully recover.
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@sher: I have read about this problem; I also live on Long Island. I don't know what the "harvester" you spoke with was planning to do with the crabs, but there are fishers (men, women; probably men) who use them for bait. There is a definite limit on how many of these crabs one person can catch and keep. These crabs have been on this Earth for 450 millionn years and are considered "living fossils," but it apparently takes humans to destroy the species.
I have gleaned the following information from the website of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation about reporting someone like that predator you saw on Fire Island (definitely don't confront him yourself):
ECO Hotline (24-hour, toll-free hotline for reporting
environmental violations)
1-844-DEC-ECOs
(1-844-332-3267) [email protected]
(for non-urgent violations)
It is unlikely that the DEC would be able to respond in time to stop a predator like the one you saw, but taking his license plate number might be a way to go.
Thank you for caring.
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Perhaps they should move?
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And stay out!
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Shore birds on the east end of Long Island have practically vanished. Beach walks are still beautiful but there is a void with no wildlife to be seen except for a few gulls. So sad.
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@Emily Corwith People did this, people can fix it.
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It's utterly sickening to see how human greed can endanger the existence of species, such as these birds, that face formidable odds in their long migration. But we never learn, instead driving one after another - - birds, monarchs, mammals - - to dwindling populations that may very well not survive. Action is almost always too late because regulators routinely fail to put the interest of species and their habitat before the money interests of people.
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@West Coast: I don't think your generalization about regulators is necessarily true. The regulators simply cannot be everywhere at once, and often the fishermen who harvest these crabs illegally go out in small boats at night. I remember seeing horseshoe crabs on the ocean beaches of the South Shore of Long Island when I was a child; they were so scary looking!
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Having the beaches closed off is not a help. We residents used to go on the beach and return crabs to the water so they could return and spawn again. There were days where a person would move hundreds of horseshoe crabs back to the water. Now, the beach is roped off and I drive past seeing the beach covered in crabs on their backs, unable to get to the water and my heart breaks.
There was a program at one time for people given access so the crabs could be moved but in the last few years, nothing has been done.
If the numbers are to increase then the crabs need that additional aid!
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@Jean I live at Highs Beach and I contacted the organizers about this and they told me people can go on the beach after sunset when the birds leave or before sunrise to flip the crabs.
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@Jean please look up Return the Favor NJ! The program is alive and well and rescues are happening after dark at Reeds Beach! You can join! Daytime walkers interrupt the birds feeding which would jeopardize them being able to feed enough to make it on their journeys north!
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"Banning the harvest, advocates argue, would rebuild a crab population that is essential not only to the birds but also to depleted marine species, such as weakfish, that feed on the crabs and in turn support commercial and recreational fishing on the bay."
Long-term sustainability needs to be the bottom line. Here's to hoping that Delaware, Maryland and Virginia join New Jersey in banning the harvest. If you live in any of those states, consider asking your elected representatives to get on board...
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