Just ran across this article.  Sorry if it is a bit disjointed.  That is the way the 
original was.
Does anyone know the status of harvesting Horseshoe Crabs in Maryland?
Jim Wilson
Queenstown

From: DNREC Press Releases List 
> Date: November 21, 2006 9:04:42 AM EST
> To: "DNREC Press Releases" 
> Subject: DNREC News: DNREC Orders Two-Year Moratorium on Horseshoe  
> Crab Harvesting
> Reply-To: DNREC Press Releases List 
>
> News from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and  
> Environmental Control.
> November 20, 2006
> Volume 36, Number 417
>
> Contact: Melinda Carl, Public Affairs, phone: (302) 739-9902
>
> DNREC Orders Two-Year Moratorium on Horseshoe Crab Harvesting
>
> Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary  
> John
> A. Hughes has ordered a two-year moratorium on the harvesting of  
> horseshoe
> crabs in Delaware waters effective Dec. 11, 2006 as a protective  
> measure
> for the horseshoe crab population and the migratory bird  
> populations that
> depend on the resource for food.
>
> The moratorium was imposed in an Order issued by Secretary Hughes this
> afternoon that approves a final regulation for horseshoe crabs  
> beginning
> Jan. 1, 2007.
>
> ?The red knots are at risk and the only thing in the world we can  
> do is to
> make certain that every egg from every female horseshoe crab that  
> spawns
> on our beaches is fertilized,? said Secretary Hughes.
>
> The decision is based upon a record, as stated in the Order, ?that
> establishes the need to protect the horseshoe crabs, which are one  
> of the
> world?s oldest species.? The record shows that horseshoe crab  
> populations
> in the Delaware Estuary declined significantly in the 1990s in the
> Delaware Bay ? the epicenter for horseshoe crabs ? and therefore  
> ?Delaware
> and New Jersey together need to act to preserve and foster the  
> environment
> for horseshoe crabs.?
>
> Secretary Hughes emphasized the importance of establishing an  
> alternative
> to the horseshoe crab as bait for eel and conch in his decision,  
> and noted
> the Department?s $350,000 support for the University of Delaware?s  
> College
> of Marine and Earth Studies? three-year effort to establish an  
> attractant
> as alternative bait for conch and eel. That effort, spearheaded by Dr.
> Nancy M. Targett, Dean, has been joined by DuPont.
>
> ?We are pleased to be volunteering our assistance to the University of
> Delaware to accelerate the development of a substitute that could  
> replace
> the horseshoe crab as bait in the conch and eel fisheries. We are  
> offering
> DuPont?s scientific capabilities to this challenging research project
> because it matches our own commitment to sustainable product  
> development
> and is part of our ongoing support of the ecology of the Delaware
>  estuary,? said Nick Fanandakis, vice president and general manager,
> DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise.
>
> ?This collaborative effort will make a considerable difference in the
> timeline for offering a remedy to the watermen,? said Secretary  
> Hughes. ?I
> ?m hopeful that we may have something concrete by early June.?
>
>