LEWES, Del. — Maryland wildlife managers are accused in a new lawsuit of keeping data secret from environmental groups seeking to protect a unique coastal crab species that is harvested for critical biomedical products.
The species is the horseshoe crab. High-value blood taken from the crabs is used to create products that protect medicines, vaccines and medical devices from contamination.
The crabs' blood, which is blue, is worth up to $15,000 per quart.
Environmental activists fear the crabs may be on the road to extinction, and are suing Maryland's Department of Natural Resources, which the organizations accuse of refusing to share data the agency has collected on the bio-medical industry activity with crabs in Maryland waters.
The Atlantic State's Marine Fisheries Commission reports on horseshoe crab populations and includes bio-medical industry activity.
"Biomedical data were included as part of the 2019 benchmark stock assessment, and continue to be provided to the Commission through state compliance reports, although the data remain confidential to the public at a regional or state level."
The agency considers the horseshoe crab population to be stable, according to its most recent report.
ASMFC reports 112,000 crabs killed by the bio-medical industry in 2019.
Maryland DNR is declining to comment on the suit because it remains in litigation.
The lawsuit alleging hidden data was filed by The Center for Biological Diversity.
American University Law Professor Bill Snape said the suit is solely focused on the Center's Freedom of Information Act request for data, but the connected issues are much broader.
“By every scientific indication this species is tanking, in part because they're losing their beaches to climate change," Snape said. "But the fact that the pharmaceutical industry literally takes hundreds of thousands of these animals and bleeds them every year. Clearly that is impacting the species on some level and we want to figure out exactly to what extent.”
The Center for Biological Diversity is joining with other conservation groups in an attempt to get horseshoe crabs protected under the authority of the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
The data is important to that effort, Snape said.
Horseshoe crabs, which are considered "living fossils" because the species has barely changed in 400 million years, swarm the beaches in Maryland and Delaware this time of year to lay eggs.
Fishermen used to wastefully kill millions of them to use as bait.
But scientists discovered horseshoe crab blood can detect contamination in medicines, vaccines and medical devices like nothing else. Products rendered with the blood were critical in the battle against COVID.
Bio-medical companies hire fishermen in many states to help them harvest the blood with the aim of releasing the horseshoe crabs live, but Snape says many do not survive.
Conservation groups fear a decline in horseshoe crabs is having a domino effect, causing a number of additional species that depend on crab eggs to go down too.
Experts on wildlife management point out that harvest limits on horseshoe crabs are cooperatively set by the multistate Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission which has determined the crab population is not threatened.
"Populations within the Delaware Bay and Southeast regions remaining consistently neutral and good, respectively, through time," ASMFC reports.
"The Northeast region population has changed from poor to neutral, while the status of the New York region population has trended downward from good, to neutral, and now to poor. Coastwide, abundance has fluctuated through time with many surveys decreasing after 1998 but increasing in recent years. The coastwide status includes surveys from all regions and indicates a neutral trend," the latest ASMFC report states.
Do you have a news tip on this story or any other story? We want to hear from you. Tell us about it by emailing newstips@wusa9.com.
MORE WAYS TO GET WUSA9
DOWNLOAD THE WUSA9 APP
Apple App Store: WUSA9 News on Apple
Google Play Store: WUSA9 News on Android
HOW TO ADD THE FREE WUSA9+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for WUSA9.
For both Apple TV and Fire TV, search for "WUSA9" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
SIGN UP TO RECEIVE WUSA9 NEWSLETTER
Subscribe to our daily WUSA9 Newsletter for top stories from WUSA9 curated daily just for you. Get content and information right now for can’t-miss stories, Commanders content, weather, and more delivered right to your inbox.