New York will phase out horseshoe crab harvest, full ban by 2029

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation that will phase out the catch of horseshoe crabs in New York waters for bait and biomedical use over four years, beginning in 2026 and culminating in a full prohibition in 2029. The allowed catch, to be managed by the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, will be reduced by 25 percent in 2026, 50 percent in 2027 and 75 percent in 2028 until the full ban goes into effect the next year.

Ms. Hochul said she had vetoed a similar bill a year ago because it would not have given the fishing industry enough time to adapt, adding, “Horseshoe crabs are a vital keystone species to New York, often called living fossils, and are important to our environment.” The law explicitly prevents catching horseshoe crabs for the pharmaceutical industry.

New York joins Connecticut, which enacted protections in 2023, and New Jersey, which banned harvest in 2008, while some states including Delaware, Maryland and Virginia still allow catches subject to quotas set by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a federal regulator.

Conservationists have urged bans because horseshoe crabs feed other marine species, including the federally protected red knot, whose population was badly damaged by overfishing on Delaware Bay beaches starting in the late 1990s.

Key Topics

Science, Horseshoe Crab, New York, Kathy Hochul, Red Knot, Long Island Sound