* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Kraft
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
Title
The Red Knot - Let's Save the Species from Extinction
FOR the purpose of supporting the Friends of the Red Knot Club by requesting that the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior place the Red Knot on the Endangered Species List.
Body
Recitals
The Red Knot is a small, plump, reddish shorebird. Every Spring, the Red Knot migrates more than 9,000 miles from Tierra del Fuego to the Canadian Arctic. Its last stop is on the Delaware Bay shores, to feed on horseshoe crab eggs. This nourishment must last them for the remainder of their journey. If food is scarce when the birds arrive in the Arctic, their stored up fat must last even longer.
The harvesting of horseshoe crabs increased in the 1990s, as horseshoe crabs became a popular source of bait for the commercial fishing industry. The number of horseshoe crab eggs on Delaware Bay shores has dropped from 40,000 eggs to 1,500 eggs per square meter from the 1990s to 2005.
Because they have fewer eggs to feed on, the population of Red Knots has also decreased. An annual survey shows that the number of Red Knots stopping at Delaware Bay has dropped from 95,000 in 1989 to only 12,375 in 2007. Scientific models predict that the Red Knot will likely become extinct by 2010.
Current efforts to restrict over-fishing of horseshoe crabs are insuffici...
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