Wild New Jersey - Human Nature by Lynda Hester D'Orio - Interview with Anthony Totah, Jr.

An Interview with
Anthony Totah, Jr.
Marine Biologist with Clean Ocean Action
The Plight of the Horseshoe Crab
July 12, 1998
by Lynda Hester D’Orio

Remember those nights after school & on the weekend when you sat waiting in the family room for the latest episode of Sea Hunt, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea or Jacques Cousteau? Anthony Totah does. Since he was a youngster, he has been fascinated with marine adventures, in fact so much so, he became a Marine Biologist. He has a gift of being able to talk about his life’s work and share his passion in a simple, direct way that leaves you informed, and always wanting to find out more. Right now, he teaches anyone who wants to learn all about marine life here in New Jersey. He works with Clean Ocean Action and many other organizations doing everything from cleaning the beaches, advocacy representation, teaching hundreds of people all about our marine ecosystem and he’s created the web site for Clean Ocean Action, www.CleanOceanAction.com.
I wanted to learn more about the plight of the Horseshoe Crab here in New Jersey, and I thought Tony’s experience and knowledge would help me tell the story of what the status is of this very important creature. The following interview was conducted on June 30th, 1997.
For more on efforts to protect the horseshoe crab, see Treading Water.

Tony, what does your group Clean Ocean Action do?

“Clean Ocean Action is a non-profit organization working on clean water issues in the New Jersey/ New York area. I started as a volunteer working on beach clean up- I did this for 2 years in Southern New Jersey. After this, I was offered a position as South Jersey Coordinator, when the 2nd office of COA was established, that was in 1993. I currently teach environmental education, coordinate beach clean ups in Cape May & Cumberland counties and when asked, I’ll help other counties with waterway clean ups if I’m able. During the school year, we run educational classes for groups and organizations. People call and ask us to come in, some Scouting groups and adult groups ask us to speak as well. We’ll come out to speak with almost any organized group and bring hands on exhibits and wildlife when possible. We can meet in convenient field locations. I actually prefer teaching in the field that way the students can see Nature first hand. I can show them instruments and sampling habits. Students are then more like scientists. I also volunteer to be a wildlife spotter for Marine Stranding Center, for whales, dolphins and seals. There are over 600 people doing this in the state. I also constructed our web site www.coa.com.”

How did you become a Marine Biologist?

“I’ve always been interested since I was a kid and watched all those TV shows, like -“Sea Hunt”, “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”, “Jacques Cousteau” & “Flipper”. I attended the University of Texas in Austin and spent summers at the Marine Laboratory for Special Programs. I graduated with a B.A. in Science. I did my graduate work in Bermuda, studying Coral reefs there and then I got a job offer from someone I had worked with in Jamaica running the Stone Harbor Marine Laboratory. I’ve been working in this field since 1986. I think I have in my blood, like a calling. My great, great grandfather worked for the Cunard Ship Lines.”

I recently spotted your name in an article from the “Ledger” about the plight of the Horseshoe Crab in New Jersey. I thought this topic was fascinating and I would like you to tell me about them. I thought the trouble started in the last ten years, but you said we need to go back to a time much earlier to understand.

“At the turn of the century in the Delaware Bay area, the Horseshoe crab was harvested as fertilizer. It’s a rough estimate that perhaps 4 million crabs were harvested a year. We don’t know the population at the time, but it was high. By the 1950’s, it was not cost effective to do this, through technology and scientific advancement in fertilizers, we no longer needed to harvest the crabs for this purpose. Between the 1960’s and up to the 1990’s, the crab population started to increase (by local consensus) and local fisherman of New Jersey would harvest them and use them for eel and conch bait, after all, they were free for the taking.
“The Horseshoe Crab’s eggs are the main source of food for the huge population of migrating birds in the Delaware Bay eco-system. Their eggs are laid in the sand & make easy pickings for the birds. There is another use humans make for these crabs, biological labs tap into these creatures for their blood. Then the crabs are tagged and released. Their blood produces a unique clotting agent used by companies around the world to test pharmaceuticals for bacteria. Everytime you get a shot at your Doctor’s office, you can thank the Horseshoe crab for making it safe! One local laboratory and researcher became concerned about this species in New Jersey, so they started to survey of the population. The numbers appeared to be dramatically decreasing.
“Horseshoe crabs have a long life cycle. They don’t become mature until they are 9-10 years old, then if they live through their normal span, the females might start to lay eggs. It takes a long time to analyze the surveys to understand damage being done to the population. Add in the effects of local pollution and distinct changes in the environment caused by industry, and it’s obvious, although difficult to document, why these crabs are becoming threatened. Governor Whitman was convinced by environmentalists by 1997 to act and brought a moratorium to this overharvesting of the crabs. Years ago, you used to see wide expanses of beaches during spawning season totally covered with these crabs, it is thought that this was the largest population in the world . Now, the crabs are only found in patches on the same stretch of beaches.
“After public hearings, new regulations were developed for anyone wanting to harvest the crabs (they are still harvested and sold for bait) Crabs can only be harvested on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You must have a license to do this. If you bring a truck and a crew to help, the regulations only allow for the one person with a license to physically remove the crab by hand. But the rub, say environmentalists, is that you can have your crew standing by and if the licensee picks up the crab by hand and puts it in a container, they can then hand off the container to their crew to load in the truck. DEP and volunteers oversee this process to avoid abuse, but it’s hard to keep track of everyone. You cannot collect off the beach, you can only collect from a back bay area. So right now, if you follow these regulations and work fast, you can load as many crabs out as you can get, right now Horseshoe Crabs fetch $1.00 or 1.50 each on the open market, a truck full is a lot of money. To add to the trouble, the female crabs grow larger, so they are more desirable and thus affect reproduction of future generations. The eggs laid by these creatures are food source for migratory birds and for local varieties of fish like flounder, weakfish, stripe, bass and tog tog, so logic would tell us that commercial fisherman should be interested in maintaining those fish by protecting a major source of food for them.
“So - First the decline in numbers is brought about by overharvesting, second is the loss of habitat and destruction of habitat by industry. Currently in New Jersey there is a swirling controversy because the Salem Nuclear Generating system plants cooling water intake system is believed to be killing marine organisms, small fish and marine life in great numbers. It is estimated that we could reduce the killing of all marine life in those areas by 95% if a closed cycle system with cooling towers were used, but it’s expensive for the utility companies to build , so the struggle goes on.”

Thank you Anthony, for all your efforts to improve and conserve wildlife in New Jersey.

If you would like to learn more about Clean Ocean Action or how to help preserve the environment for The Horseshoe Crab visit www.CleanOceanAction.com. If you would like Tony or a representative to arrange a presentation for your group, you can call (609) 729-9262.

Editor’s note: Horseshoe crabs are endangered in Asia, they could be here too if we don’t start thinking and acting globally to protect these incredible animals that provide such great benefits to so many other species, including mankind. In closing, here are some facts about Horseshoe Crabs and related issues:

1. The Horseshoe crab is not a crustacean, they are more closely related to the spiders and scorpians, but are not one of them. Horshoe crabs are classified in their own group.
2. The Male crab is generally smaller than the female crab.
3. Horseshoe crabs spawn along the East Coast of the U.S., with the largest concentration in the Delaware Bay.
4. Their spawning time is two weeks in May and two weeks in June, with the peak during the full moon of the month.
5. A female can lay 20-90,000 eggs each time she spawns, with nest size around 3,000-4,000 eggs.
6. It’s a myth that you can get stung by them, their tails are sharp, but not venomous and have no stinger.
7. Horseshoe crabs have a life span of of 16-40 years.
8. The earliest crab inhabited Earth for at least 100 million years before the dinosaurs, making the species about 350 million years old.
9. Suture materials are made from these crabs that accelerate healing.
10. At least 20 species of migratory shorebirds feed on Horseshoe eggs during their stopover and some birds can eat three times their weight before moving on to the Arctic.

For more on efforts to protect the horseshoe crab, see Treading Water.

Copyright 1998 L.H.D'Orio