Governor Ned Lamont held a bill signing ceremony at Short Beach in Stratford on Wednesday, August 9th, for legislation implementing a ban on horseshoe crab harvesting from Connecticut waters (Public Act 23-6).

We were thrilled to be on the scene for this momentous event giving horseshoe crabs a fighting chance to come back from what is considered “functional extinction” in the state. Adult female horseshoe crabs lay up to 90,000 eggs annually, which supply critical nutrition to migrating birds and other marine animals. Without them, biodiversity is severely impacted.

Some officials who spoke at the event made it clear they did not find horseshoe crabs attractive. Others, including myself and representatives from Friends of Animals were responsible for some heavy lifting on getting the bill drafted, disagree and find HSC beautiful. I found it strange that anyone would comment on the appearance of these amazing creatures who have survived over 450 million years until humans began wiping them out. Mostly for two uses — to cut into quarters for whelk and conch bait — and to bleed through the heart for vaccine testing purposes. There is a synthetic substitute for the latter, no valid reason left for that. However, a representative from CT Deep that was present said an undefined quantity is permitted for “scientific research” on a case-by-case basis, but that no such permits were currently active.

No matter the motivation of anyone involved, I am grateful for this win for horseshoe crabs. I also finally had the opportunity to give Governor Lamont a copy of The Carbon Almanac, part of my charter on Seth Godin’s launch team. The book won the “Most Insightful Data Book” award from Data Literacy in 2022, so it’s a reliable science-based reference tool for climate action.

For more information on the bill and the ceremony, check out FOA’s post and their other great content and work on behalf of animals.