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Identifying Spawning Habitat

Maryland Department of Natural Resources is seeking your help in identifying shoreline used as horseshoe crab spawning habitat in our State of Maryland. While fishing, if you notice horseshoe crabs spawning upon the shoreline, please document the location (GPS coordinates if possible). If you would like to participate, please contact Marek Topolski at 410-260-8263 or by email at marek.topolski@maryland.gov.

Spawning Surveys

Currently, Maryland Department of Natural Resources is not seeking volunteers to conduct a horseshoe crab survey within the Chesapeake Bay. For anyone interested in finding out about our previous horseshoe crab spawning surveys contact survey coordinator Steve Doctor (steve.doctor@maryland.gov - 410-643-4601) in the Fisheries Service.

However, the Maryland Coastal Bay Program in cooperation with Maryland Department of Natural Resources does conduct annual horseshoe crab spawning surveys in the coastal bays of Worcester County, MD. If you are interested in participating in this spring/summer survey, contact the Maryland Coastal Bays Program at (mcbp@mdcoastalbays.org).​

To learn more, visit the links on the left.