New Jersey Marine Fisheries Council

By Gary Dickerson

(from Jersey Coast Anglers Association -August 1995 newsletter)

The last New Jersey Marine Council meeting had two very interesting topics brought up by concerned groups. The first item I will discuss is eels or more precisely elvers. Elvers are eels in the first stage of life. Four months ago I made a recommendation to the council to put a size limit on elvers at 4". I was not fully aware of the need for the size limit until this meeting. Live elvers command a price on the commercial market of $300.00 a pound. The only thing I could envision after hearing that is another gold rush by the commercial fishermen to destroy yet another fishery. Hopefully the recreational striped bass fishermen who use eels for bait understand that they will not be using eels in the near future. At $300.00 a pound there is no chance for eels to survive this soon to be out of control and short lived commercial fishery. We saw it before with short term gains for a few, at the expense of many and the environment.

The commercial fisherman has many times caused conflicts with the recreational fisherman and has now added another group who are disturbed by their practices. Several members of the New Jersey Audubon Society brought to light that the overharvesting of horseshoe crabs is now contributing to a significant reduction in the numbers of several shorebirds. We are not the only group that is suffering from the continuing commercial disregard of natures' resources. What are one or two species of shorebirds when money is involved? Not only is this another deplorable aspect of short term greed, but another amazing fact that our state government charges the commercial fishing community a trifling pittance in permit fees for the taking of a public resource. Did you know that 1/3 of revenue collected by the state for permits and licenses of our marine resources comes from the recreational clammer. The state of New Jersey collects a little over $200,000.00 from commercial fishermen as they harvest millions of dollars of a public resource. And we thought the timber companies got a sweetheart deal.

The following are comments presented by Joan Walsh. I did not provide the entire testimony Joan made but what I felt were the significant parts.

As the biologist for New Jersey Audubon Society I am here today representing a conservation organization 15,000 members strong. We hope to bring to your attention several aspects of Horseshoe Crab biology or ecology which strongly suggest that the harvest of these animals is not in the best interest of the crabs, or the citizens of New Jersey. Please consider the following as you review the regulations pertaining to Horseshoe crabs:

CRAB BIOLOGY

Horseshoe crabs are long-lived species, which do not attain sexual maturity until 7 - 9 years of age. This alone means that overfishing of the resource will be a burden to the population for many years to come.

• A female Horseshoe Crab lays eggs several times each year, and a crab may live more than 20 years. The crab must lay eggs on the beach, in sandy substrate, and is vulnerable to harvest during this time.
  
• The combination of multiple laying within a year and multiple laying over several years, when coupled with harvest practices that allow for entire beaches to be cleared of all breeding crabs three times per week, means that the chance of a female crab making it through multiple breeding seasons very small. We are removing the portion of the population that will act as our buffer if we have over harvested the crabs.

SEABIRD-HORSESHOE CRAB PHENOMENON

• The shores of the Delaware Bay are home to a globally significant ecological phenomenon. This is akin to other amazing migrations of the Earth: Caribou migrations in Alaska and Canada, the Gray Whale migrations in the Pacific Ocean from Mexico to the Bearing Sea, the Wildebeest migration in Africa. The shorebirds which migrate through the Delaware Bay in the spring represent the most concentrated shorebird migration in North America: they number over 1,000,000 birds. These birds stop along the shores of the Delaware Bay for one thing: Horseshoe crab eggs. They need to refuel after a non-stop flight from as far south as the Patagonia coast in Argentina. The shorebirds arrive with their body weight down by as much as 30% due to the burning of fat to fuel their flight.

• The shore birds stay for 1 - 2 weeks to build up their reserves to finish their migration to the high Arctic of Canada. The Horseshoe Crab eggs are a crucial resource for these birds, and the eggs must be available in very high concentrations to support both the crab population and the shore bird population.

We will lose the shorebird concentration, and possibly lose many of the shorebirds, if we do not protect the Horseshoe Crab resource. This will be an ecological travesty.

ECO-TOURISM

The New Jersey Audubon Spring Weekend alone brought over $220,000.00 into the Cape May economy over the last three years. This is three day affair, centered around the Horseshoe Crab Shorebird Phenomenon. These observers make up a small percentage of the total number of people who come to view the spectacle.

The estimated 250,000 crabs that are harvested bring $125,000.00 to $250,000.00 to the harvesters, many of which live outside of the state, or sell their crabs outside of the state. The permitting process generates approximately $350.00 for the State of New Jersey.

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