VA Birders! VA Legislation will be introduced in early January to protect the
horseshoe crab. While other states have takend steps to end or reduce the
harvest, VA still allows fishing trawlers to land and offload their catch in
our
state! Read on...
Calidris canutus rufa - the rufa subspecies of the Red Knot shorebird - makes
its plea for survival in a big way - with an 18,000 mile roundtrip journey
from Tiera Del Fuego at the tip of South America to the Arctic. Along the way
it stops only twice - once in northern Brazil and again at the dining table of
the Delaware Bayshore. While there it must double its bodyweight in 2-3 weeks
in order to survive the final leg of the trip to its Arctic breeding grounds.
Unfortunately, while the Delaware Bay beaches were once groaning with the
eggs of horseshoe crabs - the only food available in late spring for the Red
Knot, Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Sandpiper and other shorebirds - much of
that
table is now bare, the result of profligate over-harvesting of the horseshoe
crab for bait.
Armed with new scientific evidence pointing to the imminent extinction of the
Red Knot rufa in as few as 5 years, a coalition of organizations lead by the
American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is working to replenish the beaches of the
Delaware Bay with those essential eggs by securing a moratorium on landings of
horseshoe crabs along the entire Atlantic Coast.
This is no easy feat.
Facing stiff opposition from fishermen who prefer horseshoe crabs as bait for
eel and whelk - ABC and its coalition partners are working to convince the
Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) to adopt a moratorium at
its
upcoming meeting February 13-16 in Crystal City, Virginia. If adopted, the
moratorium will be binding on all states along the Atlantic Coast.
NVBC President Rich Rieger and member David Buckley are leading the
grassroots effort for the Virginia moratorium legislation. They will be
working with
the NVBC members and Bird Conservation Alliance organizations in Virginia to
generate letters and calls of support to members of the General Assembly and to
Governor Tim Kaine urging support for the Virginia moratorium.
If you can help, please email Rich Rieger (zelig88@xxxxxxx) or David Buckley
(dcb@xxxxxxxx) and they will provide you with all the information you need to
communicate to your state legislators.
We are specifically looking for folks from the following districts to write
letters (hard copies, not emails, please) in support of this legislation...
22- R Campbell Co - Del Kathy Byron - (any members of the Lynchburg Bird
Club from Campbell Co?)
24-R Rockbridge Co. - Del Benjamin Kline
29-R Frederick Co. - Del Beverly Sherwood - (Jon Little, if you're out
there, send me an email)
65-R Powhattan Co. - Del R Lee Ware
66-R Chesterfield Co. - Del.M Kirkland Cox
98-R Essex, King& Queens, King Wm., Middlesex - Del Harvey Morgan.
Please contact David or myself offline if you can help...please don't delay -
these letters need to start flowing immediately...thanks!
Rich Rieger
