Take part in a long-term study of horseshoe crab populations
Are you surprised to learn that horseshoe crabs live in Maine? Many folks are. Join our volunteer group to monitor our local horseshoe crab population as we work to learn more about them. The count has been ongoing for 15 years, enabling us to document population changes over time.
Coastal Rivers’ volunteers are the only entity collecting data about these prehistoric and fascinating animals in this estuary so our data is invaluable to us and to anyone interested in protecting these important marine animals.
Our training will provide volunteers with background about horseshoe crab biology and everyone will learn how to follow our monitoring procedure. We will visit one of our monitoring sites and practice the protocol. A schedule will be shared so volunteers can register to monitor with a partner based on their availability. All equipment is provided.
The horseshoe crab count takes place daily from early May to mid June at the diurnal high tide. The count is done by rotating teams, so this is not a daily commitment for volunteers. Children under 15 should be accompanied by an adult. Note that some of the observation sites are steep and/or rocky, with uncertain footing.
