A Note from the Director

The Month to Explore the Shoreline

June is a crazy month. So much going on with graduations, weddings, festivals, and on and on and on.… Particularly around here on the lower Shore. Everything is moving into fifth gear, and you’d better hold on tight cause things won’t slow down till mid-September or so.

Before the crowds really descend, it’s good to get out along the shoreline or just tool around the bays and check out the wildlife. In June you should be on the lookout for migrating shorebirds, horseshoe crabs, and diamondback terrapins. Particularly along sandy stretches of bayside beach. Horseshoe crabs and terrapins are nesting this time of year and you won’t have to look too far or too long to find either of them.

Diamondback terrapins have a long history in the mid-Atlantic. The story of the Diamondback Terrapin and history of this Country intersect in many ways going all the way back to the Revolutionary War where terrapin were a staple for the soldiers during their long and bitterly cold winters. Terrapin were also a staple for slaves in the tidewater areas of the mid-Atlantic. Then, in a strange turn of events, terrapin became the food of the rich and famous in the early 20th century. Terrapin, considered an epicurean delight, were served at only the fanciest of restaurants and the finest clubs in Baltimore and Philadelphia. So well loved in fact that some folks began farming terrapin in what were known as terrapin “pounds”. There’s a rather famous pound over in Crisfield that was started by a Mr. A. T. Lavallette who became rather famously known as the Terrapin King.

The horseshoe crab’s history goes back much further. About 445 million years to be exact. This species predates the dinosaurs, and they haven’t evolved much since then. Why should they? With that kind of track record, best to stay with what you do best. And for horseshoe crabs, that means navigating the sandy bottoms of the ocean and estuaries of the Atlantic.

The horseshoe crab and the terrapin have one thing in common, they both lay their eggs along the sandy tidal shorelines during late spring and early summer. The horseshoe crabs lay their eggs in the inter-tidal area between low and high tide and the diamondback terrapin lay its eggs above mean high tide in the dry sandy deposits in the backshore area. Both eggs provide food for a number of predators. Racoons, foxes, and crows feast on the terrapin eggs while shorebirds, fish, and even sea turtles, like the horseshoe crab eggs. Do terrapin like horseshoe crab eggs? I haven’t seen this documented, but they are opportunistic scavengers, so I’ll bet they do.

There’s another thing that both species have in common, both have suffered from the loss of habitat along the shore. Bulkheading, seawalls and rip rap destroy their preferred nesting habitat. When a shoreline is hardened by rock, timber or sheet pile, this removes nesting area for terrapin and horseshoe crabs – in addition to many other species which rely on this habitat for food, refuge and nesting grounds. That’s why the Maryland legislature passed the Living Shoreline Protection Act in 2008, requiring landowners to implement natural solutions to stem shoreline erosion.  Living shorelines are an effective way to keep shorelines from eroding and maintain the habitat that these species desperately need.
If you get the time, go visit the living shoreline at Assateague State Park (right next to the boat launch on the west side of the Verrazano Bridge).  You’ll see an effective living shoreline project and, if you go this

Biologists from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) monitor the returning horseshoe crab population for ecological and scientific research purposes. The department encourages the public to report any spawning activity and sightings of horseshoe crabs. Here's a link you can report your sightings to - Horseshoe Crab Volunteer Angler Survey.

Kevin
Executive Director