SOURCE:
https://www.eastendbeacon.com/rallying-for-horseshoe-crab-protection-bill/
By Beth Young - October 7, 2025
An effort is afoot for the second year in a row to get New York Governor Kathy Hochul to sign a bill banning the harvesting of horseshoe crabs for bait and biomedical purposes.
Ms. Hochul vetoed the bill last year, after some legislators, including State Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio, expressed concern that fishermen would no longer be able to use horseshoe crab meat to catch conch and eel.
Advocates for horseshoe crab protection say the crabs’ meat is not a part of conch and eels’ diet in the wild, and alternative bait sources can be used.
Both the New York State Assembly and Senate passed a new version of the bill this June, and it is again awaiting the Governor’s signature by the end of this year.
Seventeen environmental groups led by Citizens Campaign for the Environment held a rally in support of the bill on Oct. 7 at the Northport Village Dock.
“Horseshoe crab populations are being depleted. Commercial fishermen catch them and chop them up for use as bait for conch and eel,” said Citizens Campaign in its announcement of the rally. “Horseshoe crabs are an essential species in the food web—a decline in their population is harming the ecosystem and threatening bird species that depend upon the crabs for food.”
Connecticut and New Jersey already have bans on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs, and Massachusetts has strict restrictions on their harvest.
The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the federal government in 2024 to list the American Horseshoe Crab as an endangered or threatened species, noting in its petition that “multiple studies have indicated a significant decline of the American horseshoe crab in Connecticut and New York.”
The crabs are currently listed as “vulnerable” federally.
The Group for the East End’s advocacy page on this issue includes a link to send a letter to Governor Hochul.
“It is both disappointing and embarrassing that New York will fail to enact the same protections that have already been adopted by our coastal neighbors in New Jersey and Connecticut, and it is clear that this decision was not based on science,” the Group says of the Governor’s veto last year. “Though the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation maintains that they can manage the horseshoe crab population, it is clear their strategy has shown little, if any, improvement in the overall population. We do not need more data; we need action.”
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission sets the total commercial bait harvest limit for New York State at about 300,000 crabs per year, and the state “has voluntarily reduced the permitted annual harvest of horseshoe crabs in New York State to a total of 150,000 crabs” per year, according to the DEC, with a limit of 100 crabs daily.
Renowned naturalist Dr. Jane Goodall, who recently passed away, had joined the campaign to get the governor to sign the bill last year.
“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,” said Dr. Goodall in a letter last year to Ms. Hochul, provided to the press by Citizens Campaign for the Environment. “I have devoted my life to preserving the planet and I hope together, we can make a lasting difference in this important corner of the world.”