According to the calendar, summer is more than half over. The six-week date is actually August 2. Red Knots come to this area to eat the eggs that the horseshoe crabs laid following their spawning orgy in late May to late June. But that population is declining as horseshoe crabs end up being “harvested.” What a word for taking them out of the water and killing them. I usually think of harvesting corn.
This Wednesday the Atlantic Marine Fisheries Commission is set to look at a possible regulation permitting the taking of female horseshoe crabs. The Commission is relying on data gathered by a federal agency that refuses to release those data so that various environmental groups can speak to the issue.
“Ignorance is bliss,” wrote Thomas Gray in 1768, but ignorance is not bliss when it comes to counting the number of Red Knots or figuring out whether female horseshoes should be taken. There was a time when the bay waters were full of Red Knots and other avian species. The Commission should be protecting the water and the creatures that inhabit them and rely on them, not giving into commercial interests.
Prayer for the Day
We sing on Sunday mornings how God made all creatures, large and small,
But our lives on Monday and the week to come do not reflect our song;
We pray on Sunday mornings, thanking God for the earth we inhabit,
But on the days that follow, we worry more about the cost of living.
Grant, O God, that we look beyond our narrow self-interest,
Realizing that the world belongs to all not just to selfish interests.
In the name of the One who walked among us,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The ASMFC’s intent to implement a plan that would allow for the harvest of female horseshoe crabs is reckless, given that their eggs are a critical resource for red knots.
- David Mizrahi, New Jersey Audubon Society
It is fundamentally unfair to ask the public to comment on a controversial management change when government officials won’t release key information about it.
- Ben Levitan, Senior Attorney, Earthjustice suing for information
O Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths o babes and infants, you have founded a bulwark
Because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at the heavens, the work of your fingers,
The moon and the stars that you have established,
What are we that you are mindful of us, mortals that you care for us?
Psalm 8: 1-4