Here's a piece of outstanding good news from our friends in New Jersey, one
that has direct impact on birding in Ohio.

First, some background.  There have been some mentions on this listserve
already about the plight of the eastern population of the Red Knot
(subspecies rufa), which winters in southern South America and nests in the
high Arctic.  Most of this population stops over along Delaware Bay (between
New Jersey and Delaware) in spring, after a nonstop flight from Brazil, to
feed -- primarily on the superabundant eggs of the horseshoe crabs along
certain beaches -- in order to fuel up for their next nonstop flight to the
Arctic, so that they can arrive there in good condition for successful
breeding.  Quite a few of their favored beaches have protected status; the
problem was that their food supply was dwindling because a handful of people
were overharvesting the horseshoe crabs offshore.  This population of Red
Knots had plummeted from over 100,000 individuals to fewer than 15,000.
Every scientist familiar with the situation agreed that it would be wise to
stop harvesting horseshoe crabs and let their population build up again in
order to preserve the population of Red Knots (and other migratory
shorebirds) that relied on this food source.

Earlier this year a small regulatory body in New Jersey, the NJ Marine
Fisheries Council, had voted by a narrow margin to allow continued taking of
horseshoe crabs.  Bird conservation groups opposed this move, and a vigorous
campaign of letters, phone calls, e-mails, and public meetings called on the
New Jersey legislature to overturn this decision and impose a moratorium on
taking of the crabs.  The New Jersey Audubon Society and other groups did a
superb job of bringing pressure while keeping it on a civil and calm level,
and their efforts paid off:  the moratorum on taking horseshoe crabs cleared
the NJ Assembly by a vote of 70 to 6, and cleared the NJ Senate by a vote of
39 to 0.  The bill will not become law until it is signed by Governor
Corzine, but we are highly encouraged by the overwhelming vote in favor of
conservation.

For us in Ohio, this increases our chances of seeing Red Knots, Sanderlings,
large numbers of Semipalmated Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones, and various
other shorebirds here in our home state.  Kudos to all involved (including
those Ohio birders who were calling and writing members of the NJ
legislature in recent weeks).  A strong effort for bird conservation really
can pay off at times.  My personal thanks to Julie Shieldcastle,
Conservation Director for the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, and Mark
Shieldcastle, Research Director for BSBO, for most of the details included
in this message.

Kenn Kaufman
Rocky Ridge, Ohio

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]