Like many people, I have a connection to the ocean going way back into my childhood. My family has vacationed every year at the Jersey shore since 1957 and I have been coming to the Cape since I moved to Massachusetts in 1984. The ocean to me is serenity, my stress just disappears when I can smell the salt air and hear the waves. Since the oceans have been under threat for some time, I wanted to start volunteering in some small way to help save our oceans. Something small, but I do believe one small pebble can have many ripples.
Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary afforded me the opportunity to throw that pebble. I have always been astounded by the horseshoe crab so I signed up to count mating pairs at two different times of the day. I loaded up my kayak in Northampton (they were also running a great kayak trip down the Herring River) and headed to the Cape. When I arrived, birding groups were leaving the Sanctuary and staff were organizing for a kids day camp. Boy do I wish I was 35 years younger!
The staff at the Santuary were so friendly and hospitable. With shorts and old sneakers, I headed out to the beach to count horseshoe crabs. What a glorious day it was, sunny with a light breeze, perfect. The horseshoe crabs were amazing. We set up two poles separated with a five meter cord and one cord going out into the water 5 meters. We then basically pivoted down the beach, recording the numbers in each parcel as we went. Sarah Martinez was the staff person in charge. She just knew so much about our shelled friends. I took my video camera to record the session.
View part 2 of the video here. View part 3 of the video here.
I also went to the Chatham beach at 10 pm to do an evening count. It was dark and windy but thoroughly enjoyable. We actually counted some mating pairs even in the rough surf. It took us a bit of walking to get to the designated start point and then we traveled down the beach, recording the numbers within each of our 5 by 5 meter squares. Easy to do but so essential in an effort to understand the numbers in the population. It’s a regional effort to figure out what is a sustainable population. There are many pressures which may be putting the horseshoe crab in jeopardy.
There was some disappointment in counting because a harvester had been off this beach a couple of nights before and took loads of the breeding population. I understand making a living but it seems to me we’re killing the golden goose before it even lays the golden eggs. Like swordfish it takes upwards to 10 years before the horseshoe crab reaches sexual maturity but they may be taken for the bait industry before that. Plus they’re taken during mating season. At least wait until the eggs are laid so that there may be progeny to keep the species going.
We came across a fisherman during our midnight check on the beach who asked what we were doing; when we told him, he shared without prompting that our research is very important because he remembered that even 5 years ago the beach was so full of horseshoe crabs that you couldn’t walk down the beach without stepping around hoards of them. This night our count certainly wasn’t hoards. And so, I helped the staff at the Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary toss a metaphorical pebble into mother ocean. Hopefully their work will ensure that there will be horseshoe crabs crawling up onto the beaches so that our next seven generations can marvel at their prehistoric beauty.
John Body
Ed. Note: Dr. John Body is Associate Dean for Learning Skills at Mount Holyoke College. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Resources Management from Penn State University and a Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Massachusetts.
Thanks for your article, and most of all your help.
Posted by: jerry hequembourg | July 23, 2009 at 02:13 PM