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Delaware's horseshoe crab commercial fishery will close for the remainder of 2015

Delaware’s 2015 quota allocation was 154,527 male horseshoe crabs.";

Delaware’s horseshoe crab commercial fishery will close for the remainder of the year beginning just after midnight Thursday.

According to DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife the state’s Delaware’s commercial horseshoe crab harvest is approaching this year’s quota.

Delaware’s 2015 quota allocation was 154,527 male horseshoe crabs. Harvest of female horseshoe crabs is prohibited year-round in Delaware.

Annual allocations for the Delaware Bay area states are determined through a resource management model which takes into account changes in both the horseshoe crab and migratory shorebird populations.

 

Horseshoe crabs are harvested in Delaware for use as bait in the whelk and American eel fisheries. They also play an important role in the ecology of the Delaware Bay. Migratory shorebirds rely on horseshoe crab eggs to fuel their long-distance migrations to their Arctic breeding grounds.

 

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