News

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR ALL OF US:

From: David F. Provencher
Dear Birding Friends,

I write this with a very heavy heart and a sense of great loss. The Horseshoe Crab egg-laying on the shores of Delaware Bay has utterly disappeared. For the last five years a new fishery has begun to supply a huge demand for eel. This demand is largely from Japan am I told. It turns out that the bait of choice for the eel fishery is Horseshoe Crab and Delaware Bay has been ringed with traps for them. This year the well known egg-laying on the shores of the bay HAS NOT HAPPENED! This means a virtual total breeding failure for many eastern shorebirds and therefore population drops. The Red Knot may experience a dramatic and heartbreaking population crash.

Governor Christine Todd Whitman of New Jersey has declared a moritorium on Horseshoe Crab trapping but that moratorium is largely being ingnored. Pete Dunne has asked me as President of COA to call the Governor's Office and express my support for the moratorium. He has also asked me to spread the word that every concerned birder should also call the Governor of New Jersey and also express support for the moratorium. The number is (609) 292-6000. This is a great blow to our shorebirds. Please join me and call Governor Whitman of New Jersey. If we do not reverse this situation we will witness a sickening, and rapid, decline in these intrepid migrants. We get so much pleasure from them, it is time to give something back. I do not wish the Red Knot to join the Eskimo Curlews. Do You?
Thank you,

David F. Provencher, President
Connecticut Ornithological Association