Lawsuit filed against Md. DNR, demanding horseshoe crab injury & death data

Image: Center for Biological Diversity

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Center for Biological Diversity has announced a lawsuit against the Maryland Department of Natural Resources for failing to release information detailing how thousands of horseshoe crabs are killed, bled, or injured by pharmaceutical companies and fishermen every year.

The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County.

The Center says they can’t meaningfully participate in protecting horseshoe crabs because Maryland keeps the process secretive. Biomedical companies harvest horseshoe crabs and drain their blue blood, which is used to detect toxins in drugs and medical devices. Horseshoe crab blood harvests have essentially doubled since 2017, according to officials, with almost 1 million horseshoe crabs harvested for their blood in 2022.

Horseshoe crab populations have been declining sharply in the past decade. Several horseshoe crab mass mortality events have taken place along the Atlantic Coast in recent years, including a 2021 horseshoe crab die-off in Ocean City, Maryland, which resulted in thousands of horseshoe crabs clogging canals. Mass mortality events were seen in Ocean City again in 2022 and 2023, and another was reported at Brigantine Beach in 2022.