Researchers, fishing crews, birds clash over all that horseshoe crabs provide

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 31, 2023

The horseshoe crab has been scuttling in the ocean and tidal pools for more than 400 million years, playing a vital role in the East Coast ecosystem along with being a prized item for fishing bait and medical research. Its blue blood is harvested for medical researchers. The crabs are used by fishing crews as bait to catch eels and sea snails. And their eggs are a critical food for a declining subspecies of the red knot, a migratory shorebird listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The competing interests have set up a clash among researchers, fishing crews and environmentalists over new protections designed to keep more of the crabs in the environment.