At least once a week in May and June, I led walks for reTURN the Favor on South Reeds Beach in New Jersey. I went out on solitary walks too, quiet nights under the moonlight. But the best days were when I had other volunteers with me. For some of these volunteers it was their first experience with rescuing horseshoe crabs, some had not even seen a spawning event before. They loved shorebirds, or the natural world, or walking on the beach. Ultimately, the thing they all had in common was a desire to make a difference.
So what is reTURN the Favor? For those that are familiar with the Delaware Bayshore, you are quite familiar with the sight of the overturned crabs on the beach in May and June. Each year as the crabs come ashore to spawn on the sandy beaches at high tide they undertake a risk. Sometimes they are turned over on their backs by rough waters or trapped in hazards, and thousands of crabs die each year. As the population struggles to recover, rescuing stranded crabs plays an important role in recovery.
Overturned horseshoe crabs on the Delaware Bay. Photo: Laura Chamberlin.
That’s when volunteers spring into action. All along the Atlantic Coast, where horseshoe crabs are spawning, people walk the beaches and rescue crabs- they turn them over, pull them from rocks, and save their lives. In New Jersey, reTURN the Favor was formed as a collaborative effort of nine organizations which organizes volunteers to save horseshoe crabs stranded on New Jersey’s seasonally closed and open beaches. More than just saving the crabs, it is opportunity for volunteers to connect to each other and to other conservation activities. Perhaps most importantly, reTURN the Favor connects new people to horseshoe crabs, shorebirds, and the Bayshore, serving as a catalyst for action.
In 2014 in New Jersey, volunteers covered 17 beaches with 219 walks. Logging over 700 hours, these volunteers were able to rescue nearly 31,500 crabs!
This years’ volunteers made an extraordinary difference, but we still need many more volunteers.
For those volunteers who joined me on the beach, their most common statement was “This is so easy and so important. I’ll come back on my own next year.” I know they will and I hope you do too, because we need everyone. Sign-up for our newsletter to receive information about trainings, scheduling walks, and storm action alerts.
Cover Photo: Shorebirds at Bahía Lomas, Chile in December. Photo: Patricia González.
