LCO No. 1043 1 of 2
General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5140
February Session, 2022
LCO No. 1043
Referred to Committee on ENVIRONMENT
Introduced by:
(ENV)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE HAND -HARVESTING OF HORSESHOE
CRABS IN THE STATE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) No person shall engage in 1
the hand-harvesting of horseshoe crabs or the eggs of horseshoe crabs 2
from the waters of this state. 3
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, 4
the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection may 5
authorize the hand-harvesting of horseshoe crabs by permit for: (1) 6
Educational or scientific purposes provided the commissioner 7
determines that such harvesting will not cause harm to the horseshoe 8
crab population in this state, or (2) the collection of blood from 9
horseshoe crabs for biomedical purposes provided any such horseshoe 10
crab is returned, unharmed, to the waters from which it was collected. 11
(c) Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be 12
fined ten thousand dollars for a first offense and twenty-five thousand 13
dollars for any subsequent offense. 14 Raised Bill No. 5140
LCO No. 1043 2 of 2
(d) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection shall 15
enforce the provisions of this section. 16
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
Statement of Purpose:
To prohibit the hand-harvesting of horseshoe crabs from the waters and
shoreline of the state in order to protect the horseshoe crab population.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]