The species population is plummeting. How can the governor see these animals only as a resource to be exploited?

By Priscilla Feral, For the Times Union

In 2024, Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a bill that would have banned the mass killing of horseshoe crabs for bait or for biomedical purposes. Now she has a chance to correct her misguided decision. The Senate and Assembly once again passed the legislation, and it is awaiting her signature by the end of December.

The Atlantic Marine Fisheries Commission downgraded horseshoe crab stocks in the New York region, which includes Connecticut and the Long Island Sound, from “neutral” to “poor” in 2019. According to the commission, horseshoe crab populations have been declining for at least 15 years. 

New research from the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk, Connecticut, that focuses on horseshoe crab populations throughout Long Island Sound indicates that horseshoe crab populations have plummeted to “severe” levels. Immediate action is needed to prevent horseshoe crabs from going extinct, the authors say.

Yet the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s current regulations permit the annual killing of 150,000 horseshoe crabs. Approximately 431 commercial permit holders are allowed to kill horseshoe crabs and sell them as bait to about a dozen whelk and eel fishers.

The DEC considers the horseshoe crab a “resource”— preserved only to the extent that it remains available for continued use by industry.

Gov. Hochul cited this myopic view as a reason for vetoing last year’s legislation. “The bill could have unintended consequences on the management of other species such as whelk and eel. It could harm the commercial fishing industry,” she said.

This flawed, prejudicial approach to crab conservation cannot ensure the species’ survival. The governor should not uphold this wasteful carnage. 

 Hochul also said that “the bill could impair advancements in the biomedical field,” because the blue blood of the horseshoe crab is used to detect toxic substances in injectable medicines and implants. 

This argument also does not hold water: As of May 1, U.S. pharmaceutical companies are now allowed to use animal-free alternatives — the reagents rFC and rCR — in such detection tests. This pivotal shift in the biomedical industry changes the tide for imperiled Atlantic horseshoe crabs.

Now the industry has no excuse not to stop wasting the lives of horseshoe crabs — and neither does New York state.

No one — including Gov. Hochul — should be debating whether horseshoe crabs’ numbers are plentiful enough to allow their commercial slaughter in the first place. It’s always been scientifically and morally unjustifiable. The governor must sign this bill.

Priscilla Feral is president of Friends of Animals, an advocacy organization.