Massachusetts moves to protect horseshoe crabs during spawning

BOSTON (AP) — Wildlife protection advocates are welcoming a decision by the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission to approve protections for horseshoe crabs during spawning, which is when the creatures are at their most vulnerable The move comes as interstate regulators are limiting the harvest of the primordial species of invertebrate to try to help rebuild its population and aid a threatened species of bird. Horseshoe crabs pre-date the dinosaurs, having inhabited ocean environments for more than 400 years, but their populations have been depleted for decades due to harvest in part for bait to catch eels and whelk, a species of sea snail.