A law that would have protected horseshoe crabs in New York State from harvest for bait or biomedical purposes starting Jan. 1 was vetoed in December by Gov. Kathy Hochul, leaving many environmentalists dismayed.
In her veto message, she said a ban could harm commercial fishermen and lead to unintended consequences for whelk and eel fisheries (horseshoe crabs are used as bait to catch these species) as well as “impair advancements in the biomedical field.”
Even Dr. Jane Goodall, the 90-year-old primatologist and anthropologist famous for her work with chimpanzees, got involved, writing to the governor in November to urge her to support the law. “I believe New York has an opportunity to lead in this conservation effort. By signing this bill, you can ensure the survival of the horseshoe crab and the many species that depend on it,” she wrote.
It wasn’t just the governor who was against the protections, however. Local politicians such as then-Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and State Senator Anthony Palumbo lined up against the ancient horseshoe crab, despite overwhelming support for the measure in both the Assembly and State Senate.
“The balance we need to strike is between over-regulating and a flat-out moratorium,” Mr. Palumbo said in a phone call. “This just went a little far.” Like Governor Hochul, he said the state’s Department of Conservation was capable of regulating the crabs.
But the horseshoe crab is not doing well in New York. Harvest levels are managed by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which estimates that three of four population surveys in the state were lower than a reference point from a 1998 survey. The commission has recommended that 366,272 crabs be taken annually, but the D.E.C. has voluntarily tightened those levels since 2004, calling for a maximum harvest of 150,000 crabs per year.
Yet somehow the commission still gives New York a “poor” grade on the stock status, the lowest grade given to any region. New Jersey and Connecticut have both banned the harvest.
In 2024, 454 horseshoe crab permits were issued by the D.E.C., an increase of 18.5 percent since 2009. Commercial permit holders harvested 137,010 horseshoe crabs from New York waters.
“Her veto message was nonsensical,” said John Turner, a senior conservation policy advocate with the Seatuck Environmental Association. “Her justification was that it could have adverse impacts on the biomedical industry in New York State. . . . There is no biomedical harvest in the state! What in the world is she talking about?”
He said alternatives to using horseshoe crab blood to acquire limulus amebocyte lysate, a clotting agent used to detect bacteria on medical devices before surgery is performed, have already been found. In some cases, the alternatives are more effective.
“In Asia, the alternatives are the prime means to detect the bacteria. The writing is on the wall, bleeding horseshoe crabs will clearly be phased out,” Mr. Turner said.
The bigger issue, he said, is their use as bait, and as with limulus amebocyte lysate, superior synthetic alternatives exist. A University of New Hampshire study found a mixture of green crab (an invasive species whose harvest would benefit local ecosystems) and clam bellies was a more effective whelk bait than horseshoe crabs.
The D.E.C. disagrees with the conclusions of the New Hampshire study and argues that there are no effective alternative baits for whelk.
“It’s frustrating to see the shifting baseline,” Mr. Turner said. “Horseshoe crabs are not okay. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were 10 percent as many crabs now as there were 50 years ago. I can’t speak to anybody older than 60 who doesn’t remember horseshoe crabs being much more abundant during their childhoods. That suggests they haven’t been managed well.”
The D.E.C. said in a statement that it “is committed to the conservation and protection of horseshoe crabs by working cooperatively with the A.S.M.F.C. to manage horseshoe crabs along the East Coast. Horseshoe crabs are an important part of the East Coast’s marine ecosystem. Horseshoe crab landings in New York State are strictly monitored and managed, and D.E.C. recently implemented additional conservation closures to further safeguard future populations.”
Those closures refer to four five-day lunar closures banning the harvest of horseshoe crabs around all the full and new moon periods in May and June. Mr. Turner applauded the increase from two lunar closures last year. The D.E.C. said it could take until 2028 before the effects are observed.
At least one member of the East Hampton Town Trustees, Jim Grimes, who spends time monitoring the crabs locally during the spring moon cycles, also expressed support for the veto.
“I have no idea why Kathy Hochul vetoed the bill, but I’m thankful she did,” he said. “In New York State there has never been harvesting for their blood. So, you’re banning something that doesn’t exist. On bait purposes, I wonder how they arrived at this. If you look at the number of people who are harvesting these crabs for bait, there are fewer people doing it now than 30 years ago. What’s collapsing their populations is the loss of breeding habitat, due to development and sea level rise.”
“While this bill is well intentioned, the management of marine species is better left to the experts at D.E.C.,” Governor Hochul wrote in her veto message. “To that end, I urge the Legislature to restore D.E.C.’s specific authority to regulate crabs, and am directing D.E.C. to evaluate and implement further administrative measures to protect this species pursuant to its broad authority to protect and regulate the state’s marine resources.”
East Enders are well aware how a law change allowed menhaden to thrive again, leading to spectacular displays of whales just offshore in recent years. Perhaps eventually a law will help the lowly horseshoe crab as well. Their re-emergence would be a boon for shorebirds, some of which are dependent on crab eggs, timing their migrations to coincide with egg laying. Many of our shorebirds have experienced population collapse, coinciding with the loss of horseshoe crabs, in the last 50 years.
“I remember going down to the beaches near Smithtown,” said Mr. Turner, who is 70. “You had to watch where you stepped because there were so many horseshoe crabs. The population is a shadow of what it once was.”
