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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — New regulations have been approved to help keep a prehistoric species alive.
The Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission has approved regulations to protect horseshoe crabs from being harvested during spawning season.
The 400-million-year-old species population has been dwindling in recent decades. Experts said it is due to the species being harvested for bait and biomedical manufacturing. The horseshoe crabs have blue blood that is highly valuable for drug and medical device makers because of its ability to test vaccines and products for toxic bacteria.
The approved regulations will protect horseshoe crabs when they are the most vulnerable during spawning, according to Mass Audubon.
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“We’re ecstatic that the Commission did the right thing and enacted these common-sense regulations,” President of Mass Audubon David O’Neill said in a statement. “Protecting horseshoe crabs during spawning season is incredibly important to getting this keystone species back to historic population levels that are critical to the health of coastal ecosystems, including the migratory birds that rely on them.”
Conservationists have also been trying to get horseshoe crab protections in place for years to save another declining species, the Red Knot. The migratory birds depend on horseshoe crabs to survive, but recently they have been unable to find enough horseshoe crab eggs to fuel their migrations.
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