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Identifying the Major Threats to American Horseshoe Crab Populations, with Emphasis on Delaware Bay

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International Horseshoe Crab Conservation and Research Efforts: 2007- 2020

Abstract

American horseshoe crab populations are imperiled in many locations, with overfishing, loss, and degradation of essential spawning/nursery habitats generally acknowledged to be the most significant factors. Against this backdrop, some have implicated additional local factors as further stressors. Specifically, rack-and-bag oyster aquaculture and biomedical bleeding for the production of Limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) have been targeted as factors preventing the full recovery of the Delaware Bay horseshoe crab population, which has special importance because of the significance of horseshoe crab eggs in the diets of migratory shorebirds that use Delaware Bay as a staging area during their spring migration. Rack-and-bag oyster culture along the Cape May Peninsula in lower Delaware Bay, New Jersey, is presently centered in an area that has undergone considerable erosional change in the past four decades and is no longer the prime horseshoe crab habitat that it formerly was. Studies on the abundance and behavior of horseshoe crabs in the vicinity of oyster racks show no difference in the numbers of crabs reaching inshore spawning habitat due to farm gear, suggesting that reproductive behavior and capacity is likely unimpacted by oyster farms. With respect to the potential impacts of LAL production, mortality caused by bleeding crabs is minor compared to the mortality associated with the bait fishery. The potential adoption of a synthetic endotoxin test (e.g., recombinant factor C) would have only a small impact on the Delaware Bay and mid-Atlantic horseshoe crab population. We conclude that the loss of high-quality spawning habitat ultimately poses the greatest threat to horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay and elsewhere; in comparison, oyster culture and biomedical mortality are lesser concerns. For the future, the focus should be on the preservation and, if feasible, replenishment of the remaining optimal habitats.

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Acknowledgments

The idea for this chapter originated from talks given by the authors at a horseshoe crab symposium at the 148th Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society; we thank D. R. Smith and M. J. Millard for organizing this event. D. M. and D. B. thank J. Daw and N. Cleary for their efforts collecting and analyzing data on crabs at oyster farms, along with many others that assisted from the Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory. We are grateful for the continued cooperation of the oyster farmers of Delaware Bay who allow us access to their farms as well as the discussions about our work with the Agency Working Group and its Stakeholder Committee assigned to develop and modify relevant conservation measures. We also thank Benjie Swan and the late Carl N. Shuster for their tireless efforts in support of the horseshoe crab spawning surveys in Delaware Bay. Contributions by D. B. and D. M. were supported in part by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch project accession numbers 1002345 and 1009201 through the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Hatch projects NJ32115 and NJ32114. Additional support for studies described in Sect. 3 was provided by New Jersey Sea Grant and Cape May County of New Jersey. This publication is the result of work sponsored by New Jersey Sea Grant with funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Sea Grant, U.S. Department of Commerce, under NOAA grant #NA10OAR4170085 and the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of New Jersey Sea Grant or the U.S. Department of Commerce. NJSG-20-963.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fordham University, Department of Natural Sciences, New York, NY, USA

    Mark L. Botton

  2. Rutgers University, Department of Ecology, Evolution & Natural Resources, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Robert E. Loveland

  3. Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory, Rutgers University, Port Norris, NJ, USA

    Daphne Munroe & David Bushek

  4. Greensboro, NC, USA

    James F. Cooper

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  1. Mark L. Botton
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  2. Robert E. Loveland
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  3. Daphne Munroe
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  4. David Bushek
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  5. James F. Cooper
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Correspondence to Mark L. Botton .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Studies (BCES) Molloy College, Center for Environmental Research and Coastal Oceans Monitoring (CERCOM), Earth and Environmental Sciences, West Sayville, NY, USA

    John T. Tanacredi

  2. Department of Natural Sciences, Fordham University, New York, NY, USA

    Mark L. Botton

  3. Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Paul K. S. Shin

  4. Center for Environmental Research and Coastal Oceans Monitoring (CERCOM), Molloy College, West Sayville, NY, USA

    Yumiko Iwasaki

  5. Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Siu Gin Cheung

  6. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Beibu Gulf Marine Biodiversity Conservation, Beibu Gulf University, Qinzhou, China

    Kit Yue Kwan

  7. Department of Biology, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT, USA

    Jennifer H. Mattei

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Botton, M.L., Loveland, R.E., Munroe, D., Bushek, D., Cooper, J.F. (2022). Identifying the Major Threats to American Horseshoe Crab Populations, with Emphasis on Delaware Bay. In: Tanacredi, J.T., et al. International Horseshoe Crab Conservation and Research Efforts: 2007- 2020. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82315-3_18

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