Please complete the following letter and make a difference
for future generations! Make sure to add your name, address and
the date. Our shorebirds and horseshoe crabs are about to
disappear and we must act now.
If you prefer, this letter is available for you to download
as a PDF document.
Click
Here.
The Honorable James McGreevey
Governor of New Jersey
State House, PO Box 001
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0001
Dear Governor McGreevey:
I am writing to ask you to declare an emergency order
stopping the harvest of horseshoe crabs in New Jersey. Data from
the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP)
conclusively links the rapid disappearance of Red Knot, a state
threatened species, and other shorebird species to the
overharvest of horseshoe crabs. Red Knots and eight other
shorebird species rely on horseshoe crab eggs as food to fuel
their flight from Delaware Bay to their Arctic breeding grounds
each spring.
NJ DEP researchers have documented that the number of
wintering Red Knots in Tierra del Fuego, South America has
declined by 51% in two years. Similarly, the number of Red Knots
on the Delaware Bay has dropped 12% between 2001 and 2002.
Alarmingly, between 2001 and 2002, the peak count of nine
species of shorebirds in the Bay area declined by 50%!
In addition, NJ DEP and NJ Audubon Society research on the
Delaware Bay has shown a sharp decline in daily weight gain for
Red Knots and Semipalmated Sandpipers; many birds leave Delaware
Bay unable to reach their Arctic breeding grounds. NJ DEP
research also shows a statistically significant decline in the
number of horseshoe crabs eggs available to shorebirds from 2000
to 2002. Likewise, Delaware trawl data has shown a 75% decline
in the number of horseshoe crabs in 11 years.
The NJ DEP report on Delaware Bay ecotourism valued the
industry at $34 million per year. This figure alone surpasses
the US Fish & Wildlife Services' (USFWS) estimate that the
horseshoe crab harvest industry from Florida to Maine is worth
$11 million annually. In addition, the USFWS valued the
biomedical industry's non-lethal collection of horseshoe crab
blood at $150 million.
The state of New Jersey and Atlantic Marine Fisheries Council
has initiated stock assessments for horseshoe crabs. It is
ecologically and economically bankrupt to allow harvest in the
absence of a sound, scientific management plan which is based
upon sustainability for shorebirds.
In summary, we ask you to take a leadership role to conserve
our natural resources for future generations by:
1. Immediately instituting a moratorium on NJ horseshoe crab
harvest. The moratorium should persist until a management plan,
which guarantees a more than adequate food supply for shorebirds
and population viability for horseshoe crabs, is passed and
approved by a peer-review panel including shorebird
ornithologists and horseshoe crab ecologists.
2. Support regional efforts with states including Delaware to
better address this shared resource.
3. Support an Atlantic Coast (Maine to Florida) and New
Jersey horseshoe crab stock assessment
I appreciate your consideration of this important matter.
Sincerely, _________(Name & Signature)__________________
Address __________________________
City, State & Zip ___________________________
_____________________ Date
| 
