"They're returning," said Robert Prescott of the Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, referring to the crabs' likely presence in East Harbor, also known as Pilgrim Lake, close to 150 years ago. The East Harbor lagoon and salt marsh, about 720 acres in total that runs along Route 6, were deliberately cut off from Cape Cod Bay in 1868, creating a murky, stagnant freshwater lake plagued by fish kills, midge outbreaks, and the proliferation of non-native plants and animals, according to Seashore records. Following a 2001 fish kill, the town of Truro and the Seashore began cooperating to restore East Harbor to its ocean roots by permanently opening a culvert that connects to the bay. Since then, many native plants and animals — including horseshoe crabs — have returned."It's a refuge," Seashore resources and monitoring coordinator Megan Tyrrell said of East Harbor's importance to the crabs. Horseshoe crabs are found along the Atlantic coast from northern Maine to the Yucatan Peninsula, according to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, a 15-state agency that coordinates the sustainable use of near-shore marine resources. Along the Atlantic coast, the crabs are commercially harvested as bait for the American eel and conch fisheries. Also, medical researchers use horseshoe crab blood, without killing the animals, to help detect contaminated medical devices and drugs. The primary harvest grounds are in Delaware Bay, followed by New York, New England and the Southeast, according to the marine fisheries commission.On Cape Cod, horseshoe crabs are most plentiful at Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge off Chatham, a federal reservation where harvesting the crabs is prohibited. Crab harvesting is also prohibited in the Seashore, with penalties up to $5,000 and six months in jail, Seashore Chief Ranger Bob Grant said."
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