Red Knot shown the road to extinction by New Jersey Council

I attended the New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council meeting on Monday February 11^th.  At the meeting the council decided whether to adopt a DEP proposal to continue the moratorium on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs.  The moratorium is proposed in to ensure there are enough eggs for the Red Knot to eat.  The Red knot is an amazing bird that flies from the southern tip of South America to the Arctic.  During this amazing journey they stop over in the Delaware Bay area for a couple of weeks to recoup from the journey and prepare for the next step.

Once leaving their homes in South America, the Red Knots lose all of their fat stores and up to thirty percent of their muscle weight before they reach the Delaware Bay.  Once in the Delaware Bay the Red Knots feed on the horseshoe crab eggs for approximately two weeks in order to replenish their bodies.  After this brief layover the red knot continues to the Arctic Circle where they breed.  The Department of Environmental Protection’s scientists believe that the Red Knot needs at least 50,000 horseshoe crab eggs per square meter while currently there are only 2,000 eggs per square meter.  In short, the horseshoe crab population has declined over a period of years thus resulting in fewer eggs.  The decrease in horseshoe crab eggs has contributed to the decline in the red knot.  If there are not enough eggs for the red knot to feed on the birds do not gain enough weight to successfully make the last leg of their journey to the Arctic Circle.

The Red knot is a species that is protected under the migratory bird treat and is a species that in 2006 the Fish and Wildlife Service said met the requirements for being listed as an endangered species, but due to a lack of funds and other priorities the FWS would not list the species.  This demonstrates a problem with the implementation of the Endangered Species Act.  The government should fully fund it, but they are not.  This leaves many species out in the code waiting to be listed as threatened or endangered.  The red knot does not have the time to wait as some experts believe that the red knot may begin down the road of extinction in 2010.

Unfortunately the Marine Fisheries Council decided to ignore the science, ignore the expertise of the State’s Department of Environmental Protection and placed the future of the red knot in jeopardy.  The council rejected the moratorium.  Since the Council has rejected the moratorium, there will be no moratorium.  Male horseshoe crabs will be harvested which likely impact the number of eggs that can be fertilized and ultimately the amount of food available to the red knot and other shore birds.  This is another example of how sound science gets ignored, proper management of our natural resources are disregarded and we all will lose out.

If you would like more information regarding this issue click here to go to the NJ Audubon Society’s web page.

Tags: dep, Endangered Species, fws, horseshoe crab, marine fisheries council, moratorium, red knot