Fishing pressures

A recent concern has arisen because fishermen have begun to take increasing numbers of Limulus for conch and eel fishing. The U.S. eel fishery has grown in the past decades as demand in Asian and European markets has depleted their local supplies. Eels, like shorebirds, love Limulus eggs, and fishermen prefer the females for baiting eel pots. A large female stores thousands of eggs in large ovaries that are spread through the prosoma and much of the year the ovaries are full. Crabs are dredged and trawled throughout the year and spawning females are hand-collecting on the beaches during the spawning season.

Conch are also increasing in demand and conch fishermen take both males and females. In the case of both eel and conch fishing, the crabs are collected, cut into sections, and used as a bait in wire traps.

The relationship between high crab populations and shorebird numbers has been correlated and concerns of major setbacks in shorebird populations are driving the issue of regulating the collection of crabs. In the past, crabs were used extensively as fertilizer and historic records indicate a relationship between shorebird populations and Limulus numbers.

More on the this issue can be found in the reports listed below.

The Horseshoe Crabs of Delaware Bay

Summary of the Problem

1998 Fishery Management Plan for the Horseshoe Crab

1999 Fishery Management Plan for the Horseshoe Crab

 Alternative Bait - Trap Design Workshop for Horseshoe Crabs

Shuster, C.N., Jr. 1950. Observations on the natural history of the American horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus. Third report investigations of methods of improving the shellfish resources of Massachusetts, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Control No. 564:18-23.