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Strategies to rebuild and maintain biodiversity in Delaware Bay

It is undeniable that the current measures to help boost the population of horseshoe crabs have failed miserably. The harvesting of this species affects the organisms that interact within its environment, Delaware Bay. In this case, the survival of horseshoe crabs directly correlates to survivability of shorebirds. For example, Red Knots and other species that use Delaware Bay as a rest and relax station before flying back to the north. The failure of the restriction can be seen with the population size of Red Knots visiting Delaware Bay in 2008 dropping sharply to 15,000 from 68,000 in 1985. (Gonzalez, 2004) Nevertheless, why it failed can never be more important than we could recover what we have lost. Generally, the more crabs we harvest, the less egg will be available for the shorebirds to feed on. This in turn reduces the average weight of the shorebirds and also their chances of survival. After all, how can you fly back all the way to the north on an empty stomach? This assignment will discuss about the recovery strategies that cover several perspectives such as science, economy and social. The harvest of this delicacy has started since the 1980s, whereas restrictions only came years later. (Niles, 2008) The damage is already done but science could help us to understand the ideal factors to help the crabs in laying more eggs. Of course, I am not saying we should genetically modify the crabs to lay double the amount of eggs than they usually give. Rather to provide them the environment so that they have the breathing space for optimal egg laying process. Besides, science could also allow us to understand what the crabs need for optimal growth rate. For example, the kind of food the crabs need for their fastest and healthy natural growth. I am not looking to inject the crabs with chemical like we are injecting our chickens. What I am looking at is for science to help identify the general conditions to help the crabs boost its population. Research would require money to go on, how to get that money will be explained later on. While we use science to help us, we would need humans to stop harvesting the crabs for at least a year or two. Although the crabs are not categorised as an endangered species, the shorebirds that are feeding on this species are. For instance, Rufa, one of the six Red Knots subspecies has been proposed to be given the endangered species status in Brazil. (Niles, 2008) In 2007, US Fish and Wildlife also determined the Rufa warranted threatened

under the endangered species act. Yet the committee chose not to officially list it due to lack of staff and resources, also because they deem the species to be insignificant. On the contrary I believe all form of lives to be a gift from God and we have no right to determine by ourselves any species to be insignificant. Therefore, the banning of horseshoe crab harvesting is significant because it affects biodiversity as a whole. Instead of purely coming out with restriction policies, the authorities should come out with people to enforce it. This will aid researches in their experiments and researches on horseshoes crab. Besides, the crabs will have more successful hatchlings and survival rate with its main predator out of the picture, humans. One may argue about the economic perspective in which what would happen to humans whose survival depends on harvesting horseshoe crabs? While I insist on boosting the population of horseshoe crabs, I do not intend to sacrifice humans for that. Instead I believe a balance could be achieved. People who used to harvest the crabs will tend to have the most knowledge about them. The conservation committee should offer them jobs in aiding them in their research in boosting the crabs population. Furthermore, these very people can be turned into enforcement agents to prevent poaching of the crabs. As I mentioned earlier, conservation facility should be created to accommodate the conservation committees and workers. This facility must aim to hatch more crab eggs and then release them to Delaware Bay as one of the means of boosting populations. Next, tours and awareness campaigns could be organized to help the public understands how far the problem stretches out to and the importance of biodiversity. Tour guides and educators would mean more jobs creation for that area. These steps could significantly change source of incomes for the people there, although their focus is still horseshoe crabs. When the public receives more knowledge on the extent of the situation, donations could pour in to fund the conservation practices. The activities mentioned in earlier paragraphs can then become self-sustained through donations and fees collected from tours and research sponsorship. Companies who wish to perform cause-related marketing will be likely to make use of this situation to gain grounds to achieve better corporate image and sales figure. Socially, the public will also appreciate the environment horseshoe crabs in that manner. What is important note here is not that unrestricted harvesting could continue after the population of the crabs are recovered, which will take well over 5 years. Instead a more practical harvesting method should be introduced, perhaps domesticating horseshoe crabs for mass production purposes. These steps are proposed so that Delaware Bay could be

maintained as a critical spot for maintaining biodiversity while providing humans a sustainable way of living and income. Other than that, it is more socially responsible compare to simply ravaging whatever resources that God so generously given us. As the saying goes, killing two birds in one stone. These are the methods I would propose to rebuild and maintain biodiversity in Delaware Bay.