Valuable Horseshoe Crabs Need State Protections.

• Position: Brief Article

They're sort of flat and funny looking. Remnants of the age of dinosaurs, horseshoe crabs have been around some 350 million years. But they may go the way of the giant reptiles without some kind of state intervention to help preserve their numbers from humans.

The metallic blue-colored blood of horseshoe crabs is worth $5,000 a quart to the biomedical industry. About 30 years ago, a researcher found something in the crab's blood that could detect bacteria that can be left on medical equipment or in IV solutions, even after sterilization. The ancient trilobite-appearing critter is also sold to fisherman at $1 per crab as bait to entice eel and conch.

There has been ongoing debate, court action and intervention by the federal government to stop any potential overharvesting (now at almost 3 million crabs a year) of these saltwater crustaceans.

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved a 25 percent reduction in horseshoe crab harvests from Maine to Florida. U.S. Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta is concerned about the dwindling population and has threatened a moratorium on horseshoe crab fishing in Virginia waters if the state fails to take steps to drastically reduce the number of crabs fished out of its waters or brought into Virginia ports by trawlers. A federal ban...