Migrating red knots that feed on Delaware Bay horseshoe crab eggs declared a threatened species
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [NJ.com] By Seth Augenstein - December 10, 2014 -
A fast-disappearing shore bird that makes a pit stop in New Jersey along a mammoth migration flight each year has now been listed as a threatened species, according to conservation groups.
The red knot, a shorebird that stops in the Delaware Bay to feast on the eggs of horseshoe crabs in the middle of its nearly 10,000-mile trek north, was declared to be a threatened species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Environmental groups said that it was time to bolster the bird population by protecting the horseshoe crabs. New Jersey has had a moratorium on horseshoe crab harvesting since 2008, but Delaware and Maryland have no such prohibition, the groups said.
A bill currently before the New Jersey Assembly and State Senate would open up the state’s waters to horseshoe crab harvesting.
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