Red knot news: DE officials arrest horseshoe crabber

The horseshoe crab has become a celebrity species in New Jersey and Delaware.

So the arrest of a waterman in Delaware who was illegally harvesting them — and who had at least 167 on hand when he was caught, officials say — is notable.

The crab's helmet-like shape, it's sword-like projection and its prehistoric, ungainly appearance are a magnet for kids.

But its eggs are the good stuff. Every spring, as the crab is coming ashore in Delaware Bay — the epicenter of its population — to lay its pearly green eggs, shorebirds are arriving by the thousands from far to the south.

They gorge on eggs to regain their weight and strength before continuing to their breeding grounds, often high in the arctic.

One in particular, a robin-size bird called the red knot, has been in steep decline, and officials blamed the overharvest of horseshoe crabs. The crabs are not edible themselves, but they are used as bait for conch, a delicacy in the Asian food market.

Horseshoe crabs also are captured so their blood, which contains a substance used to determine contamination of medical devices, can be harvested. Although some crabs die as a result of the capture and bleeding, many are returned to the bay alive.

To protect the birds, gradually, more and more limits have been placed on the harvest of horseshoe crabs.

Crabbers have not liked it.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced earlier today that they had arrested a Delaware commercial waterman and charged him with 224 commercial shellfish violations, many of which involved horseshoe crabs, on the Delaware Bay.

Jason T. Watson, 37, of Milford, was charged with numerous violations, including 167 counts of unlawful possession of horseshoe crabs.

Cpl. John McDerby of the department's fish and wildlife enforcement division said this means the waterman had at least 167 crabs in his possession.

Among other violations, Watson also was charged with dredging for crabs without a dredge permit, using improperly marked commercial conch pots and using the pots without the required bait-saving device — a recent technique aimed at reducing horseshoe crab use.

Watson was arraigned in Justice of the Peace Court in Georgetown and released on $20,350 bail after pleading not guilty.

McDerby did not know if officers had been tipped off to the illegal crab harvest or if they had discovered it on routine patrols.

Because of the importance of the crab and the tight restrictions, "it's a fishery we keep an eye on," he said.

He did not have information about other recent arrests related to horseshoe crabs, but he said they have occurred.

Delaware allows a limited harvest after June 7, when all the shorebirds have departed. This year, Delaware's quota of 160,435 male horseshoe crabs was met and the fishery was closed on June 19. No dredge fishery was allowed this year because the quota was met early.