News Archives
10/12/00
NOAA Fisheries Closes Area To Fishing For Horseshoe Crabs
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service has banned fishing for horseshoe crabs in federal waters off the mouth of Delaware Bay. The ban provides additional protection for local stocks and ensures that declining populations of migratory shorebirds have an abundant source of horseshoe crab eggs to feed upon when they stop to rest in Delaware Bay before moving north to their Canadian nesting areas. Read more »
04/05/00
ISFMP Policy Board Recommends Virginia Be Found Out of Compliance with Addendum I to the Horseshoe Crab FMP
Alexandria, Virginia – The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Interstate Fisheries Management Program (ISFMP) Policy Board has recommended that the Commonwealth of Virginia be found out-of-compliance, effective May 1, 2000, with the required landings cap provision of Addendum I to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for horseshoe crab. Read more »
02/10/00
Horseshoe Crab Management Board Votes to Reduce Coast Wide Commercial Bait Landings by 25%
Virginia: The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Horseshoe Crab Management Board today approved Addendum I to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Horseshoe Crab, which implements harvest reduction measures along the Atlantic coast for the commercial horseshoe crab bait fishery. download the pdf.
09/28/00
Excellence in the Estuary Award
Delaware: On September 28, 2000 the Ecological Research & Development Group Inc. received the “Excellence in the Estuary Award” from the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary Inc. “for their tireless work to protect the Delaware Estuary’s horseshoe crab population.” The awards were established to recognize organizations, agencies and individuals doing outstanding work to protect, enhance, and sustain the Delaware Estuary.
09/01/00
Horseshoe Crab Bait Bags are adopted by the Virginia Conch Fishery
Virginia: In October of last year, at an alternative bait workshop hosted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), ERDG offered to manufacture and distribute a particular type of bait bag being successfully used by Frank Eicherly IV a Milford, Delaware, conch fisherman. Read more »
08/08/00
U. S. Secretary of Commerce Announces Plans to Establish Delaware Bay Horseshoe Crab Preserve
Delaware Bay: As a result of his earlier efforts to protect horseshoe crabs, Governor Thomas R. Carper today received word from the United States Department of Commerce that a horseshoe crab moratorium will be in place by late October. At an event along Delaware Bay in Cape Henlopen State Park, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Norman Y. Mineta reported that efforts are underway to establish a horseshoe crab preserve by October 30. The planned federal preserve, part of a state/federal program, will provide additional protection for local horseshoe crabs by prohibiting their harvest in a prime spawning area. download the pdf.
08/08/00
U. S. Secretary of Commerce announces plans to establish Delaware Bay horseshoe crab preserve
— Carper applauds federal response to protect 350-million-year-old species — Read more »
06/13/00
Carper calls for horseshoe crab preservation and awards regional contest winners
Broadkill Beach on the verge of becoming official horseshoe crab sanctuary Read more »
05/31/00
Broadkill Beach Delaware Becomes a Horseshoe Crab Sanctuary
The Ecological Research & Development Group Inc., in partnership with the Broadkill Beach Preservation Association and the residents of Broadkill Beach, Delaware, designated 2.5 miles of this communities 3.8 miles of beach as a horseshoe crab sanctuary. Read more »
05/19/00
ERDG Volunteers Assist in Y2K Shorebird Management Study at Prime Hook NWR
The USFWS, Region 5 Division of Refuges and Wildlife is undertaking a cooperative study with the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center to help identify the contribution and management potential for migrating shorebirds on several National Wildlife Refuges along or near the Delaware Bay and coastal areas of the Atlantic Ocean. Read more »
03/01/00
ERDG Plans to Build the Nations First Horseshoe Crab Research Institute® (HCRI) in Milton, Delaware
Delaware: The site is on the shore of the Broadkill River located between, Union Street, the main road in town, and the eastern boundary of Lake Wagamons waterfall and natural marsh. The Town of Milton is 15 miles west of the Atlantic Ocean. The program is for a private institution for environmental development studies and specifically horseshoe crab research and conservation. A museum to educate the public on the paleontology, anatomy and natural history of the world’s four horseshoe crab species is included in the program. download the pdf.