(Delaware) Judge dumps horseshoe crab protection - AP

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Judge dumps horseshoe crab protection

Sat Jun 9, 11:56 AM ET

GEORGETOWN, Del. - A judge has struck down Delaware's two-year
ban on harvesting horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay, saying the
crustaceans' population is healthy enough to allow a limited harvest.

The state failed to prove its case in favor of the ban, Superior Court
Judge Richard Stokes ruled Friday in a lawsuit filed by two businesses
involved in the harvest and sale of the crabs. He said that while the
crab population was seriously depleted by overharvesting through
1998, it has since stabilized.

The ruling is "extremely disappointing," said Michael Parr, vice
president of the American Bird Conservancy.

-snip-

Fourteen Atlantic coast states, including Delaware, have implemented
conservation measures to protect the crabs, which are used as bait
by eel and conch fisherman but also are vital to migratory shorebirds
that gorge on crab eggs during spring stopovers on the shore of
Delaware Bay.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070609/ap_on_re_us/horseshoe_crabs

[Double T]

1. Why are judges allowed to make decisions about these things?

Does EVERY GD THING need to be resolved in an F-ing courtroom with lawyers and judges??

[dbackjon]

2. STupid prick activist judge

And greedy ass fishermen...

[Nihil]

4. Kick. (n/t)

[shireen]

3. a crime against nature

hcrabs have been in the fossil record for about 350 million years (not exact species we have in Delaware Bay, but recognizable as hcrabs). Now some judge, member of a genus that first emerged 2.5 million years ago and only recently took on modern form about 100,000 years ago, has signed the extinction warrant for these amazing creatures. I used to volunteer for the Delaware Dept. of Natural Resources (terrific people!) doing surveys during the spawning season and tagging them. One of the most amazing experiences was standing on the beach under a full moon, late one night, the bay waters gently lapping ... as far as my eyes could see were spawning hcrabs along the high tide line in a band about 5-7 feet wide and 2-3 layers of hcrabs deep. It was profoundly primeval. You could imagine that same scene hundreds of millions of years ago, long before the Delaware Bay existed, long before the North American continents split from Africa to create a wide expanse of water we call the Atlantic Ocean.

Also facing extinction are the Red Knots, birds that winter as far south as Tierra del Fuego, and each spring, fly to nesting grounds in the Arctic tundra. On their way there, they stop at Delaware Bay for a couple of weeks to feed on hcrab eggs. When they arrive, they weigh 100gm, two weeks later, just before departure, they've doubled in weight to 200gm. I've held these little miracles in my hands, as a volunteer who helped band them. One moment, I'd be holding a thin bird, a new arrival, that I would weigh before handing off to the next person on the "processing" assembly line where the birds were also measured, aged, and sexed (some cloacal swabs, blood samples, and feather samples were also collected). The next bird handed to me would be plump, ready to depart on the next leg of its non-stop flight to nesting grounds. Every now and then, we'd trap a knot fitted with a radio transmitter that was attached just a few days earlier in Brazil. Just before taking flight, the digestive organs of the Red Knot is absorbed by its body to lighten the load so all the fat reserves can be directed towards energy for their long-distance and often non-stop flight to the Arctic tundra. (Don't worry, the gut grows back at the nesting site!)

Another note about hcrabs: their copper-based blue blood, which is sustainably collected, is used to detect bacterial contamination in medical supplies. They've saved millions of lives.


Then, along comes Judge Stokes, lifting the much-needed protection for hcrabs so they can be harvested for use as bait for conch and eel.