On February 27, 2008, we came one step closer to getting the red knot listed on the federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife.  Senators Cardin (D-MD), Menendez (D-NJ), and Lautenberg (D-NJ) sent a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne urging him to place the rufa subspecies of the red knot on the list.

Two days later, the NJ Assembly approved a bill for an indefinite moratorium on harvesting horseshoe crabs in NJ.  This issue is intricately linked with the concurrent decline of horseshoe crab eggs.  Defenders of Wildlife reports that weights of red knots caught in the Delaware Bay have suffered due to reduced availability of the eggs for nourishment during their spring migration to the Arctic.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service admits that harvesting horseshoe crabs presents “substantial risks” to the knot.

However, in 2006, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided not to list the knot.  At that time, the red knot was already facing extinction and its status has only gotten worse.  New Jersey Audubon reports that the knots are declining 17.9% annually, with an overall decline of 80% over the past 10 years.Kudos to those senators!

View the letter here: http://www.defenders.org/resources/publications/programs_and_policy/wildlife_conservation/imperiled_species/red_knot/support_letter_re_listing_red_knot.pdf [1]