Mass Audubon Supports Updated Horseshoe Crab Management Proposals. Here’s Why.

The state is proposing new rules that would reduce the number of horseshoe crabs that can be fished for bait, as well as reducing the biomedical industry’s reliance on the bait harvest. The animals bled for the biomedical industry are returned to the water, and while there is some mortality, this is much less than the 100% loss of crabs harvested for bait. 

The New Proposal 

In a memo dated December 12, 2025, Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) Director Dan McKiernan proposed to lower the bait harvest quota from 140,000 crabs per year to 100,000 crabs per year and proposed to increase the biomedical harvest quota from 200,000 crabs per year, to 280,000 crabs per year.  

Assuming a 15% mortality rate for crabs caught for bleeding, this would result in a net decrease in horseshoe crab mortality of at least 28,000 crabs.   

Additionally, the proposal is specifically designed to decrease the biomedical industry’s reliance on bait catch, tempering an important driver of demand for that fishery. There is no regulatory path forward to ending the bait harvest in Massachusetts that doesn’t address short term demand from the low-mortality biomedical fishery. The product they make is still in high demand by drug and medical equipment manufacturers. 

Director McKiernan’s memo points out that if we want to manage horseshoe crabs for abundance, then the focus should be on mortality, and not strictly on harvest catch limits.  

Mass Audubon’s Position on the Proposal 

Mass Audubon believes the best way to end using horseshoe crabs as bait entirely is to take an approach that prioritizes winding down the bait fishery.  

DMF’s proposed quota reallocation embraces that approach, reducing the allowable catch by nearly 30% for an industry in which every animal that is caught dies.  

It also substantially decreases the ability for biomedical harvesters to rely on bait catch. The respective industries have different sources of demand, wildly disparate practical applications of the resource, and distinct impacts on the fishing industry, all of which argue for separate management strategies.  

We will continue to fight to end the bait fishery entirely. This proposal is another significant step in the right direction, and Mass Audubon supports it while looking forward to continued advocacy with DMF.  

Background on Horseshoe Crab Industry 

In Massachusetts, there are two different fisheries for Horseshoe Crabs. The biomedical harvest, which supports an industry where the animals are bled and then released, and fishery harvest, where crabs are caught and sold as bait to harvesters of whelk, a type of edible snail sold for human consumption, mostly in Japan and Europe. 

The biomedical harvest was first capped in 2023 at 200,000 crabs per year. Scientific estimates are that 85% of the animals survive this process, meaning approximately 30,000 crabs die each year as a result of the biomedical harvest. There is some uncertainty on this mortality rate, and little is known about sub-lethal effects, but most of these crabs are returned to the ocean alive and mobile. 

In recent years, the biomedical industry has developed synthetic chemicals as an alternative to the use of horseshoe crab blood in producing the lysate needed to test drugs and medical devices. In 2025, the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) approved the use of synthetics, and many companies are making the transition to this more sustainable option. 

Horseshoe crab bait industry caps are set at 140,000 animals annually, with a 100% mortality. Coastwide, and especially in Massachusetts, bait harvest is overwhelmingly the greatest threat to horseshoe crab population recovery. 

The Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), the state agency charged with managing the horseshoe crab fishery, classifies the whelk fishery as “depleted and overfished, with overfishing continuing.” DMF data also suggests that demand for bait crabs from whelk harvesters is below 100,000 animals per year. 

Complicating the management of these fisheries is the so-called “rent-a-crab” program, through which crabs harvested for bait are bled before being killed. This eases pressure on the biomedical fishery but artificially increases demand for bait harvest.       

Mass Audubon’s Role in Protecting Horseshoe Crabs 

For over two decades, Mass Audubon has sought improved management of this species to restore the population. Historically, horseshoe crabs provided food for many other species including migratory shorebirds, which rely on crab eggs to fuel their long journeys.  

We have supported horseshoe crab management by training volunteer monitors and providing DMF with spawning survey data. Through this work, we have developed a deep network of advocates and members who care about the iconic species and have pushed an advocacy agenda that prioritizes population recovery.  

In 2024, Mass Audubon and its supporters successfully petitioned DMF to ban the harvest of horseshoe crabs (from both fisheries) during peak spawning season. This was a significant and meaningful first step towards the goal of species recovery. 

In 2025, Mass Audubon came out in support of legislation that would end the bait fishery in Massachusetts entirely, stating that “eliminating the outdated, unnecessary, and deeply unpopular bait harvest of this ecologically important and beloved species will put horseshoe crab populations on the path to recovery and free up regulators to focus on the important biomedical fishery.” 

Our long-term vision for Massachusetts is to have zero crabs harvested for bait, and a biomedical industry transition to a synthetic endotoxin test, removing the demand for horseshoe crab blood. We recognize that the biomedical transition will take a number of years as companies transition their processes. 

Take Action 

The state is accepting comments through February 27, and the Marine Fisheries Advisory Council (MFAC) has scheduled a vote for March 17.  

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