Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor has wrapped up its second year of participation in New York’s Horseshoe Crab Monitoring Network, a statewide effort that tracks horseshoe crab populations and migration patterns while giving volunteers a firsthand role in marine conservation.
The coalition joined the network last year to establish a monitoring site at Tappen Beach in Glenwood Landing, filling what organizers said was an important gap along the North Shore.
The monitoring network is a collaboration among the state Department of Environmental Conservation, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County and Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. It was modeled after a similar monitoring effort in Delaware in response to the declining population of Atlantic horseshoe crabs.
Sarah Stromski, the coalition’s environmental monitor, said the project has two primary goals. “We’re counting horseshoe crabs and then we’re also tagging them,” Stromski said. “It’s an effort to better understand their migration patterns and behaviors and how best to protect them.”
Often recognized for their distinctive appearance, horseshoe crabs play a critical ecological role, serving as a keystone species in the Long Island Sound and as a food source for numerous varieties of wildlife. Their loss would trigger an ecological collapse.
Stromski noted that turtles, sharks and eels feed on horseshoe crabs, while their eggs provide an important food source for migratory shorebirds such as the red knot during its annual journey from South America to the Arctic.
Monitoring takes place during the full and new moons in May and June, when horseshoe crabs come ashore to spawn. Over 12 survey nights, volunteers gather late in the evening to collect environmental data before counting and tagging crabs along roughly 370 yards of shoreline.
The team records air and water temperatures, wind speed, wave height and offshore visibility before walking the beach to count male and female crabs. Volunteers also document previously tagged animals, alive or dead, because every recovery helps researchers better understand the animals’ movements.
After completing the count, the team measures individual crabs, records shell condition and any marine organisms growing on them before attaching a numbered tag to the left side of the shell.
“There’s no remote sensing for the tags,” Michelle Lapinel McAllister, the coalition’s programs directorm said. “That’s why it’s really important. [Scientists] only get the information about tag recoveries when people see them and report them.”
The coalition has seen increasing volunteer participation this year, according to McAllister and Stromski.
Depending on the size of each group, volunteers help with everything from spotting horseshoe crabs in the water to recording data and tagging animals. Participants also collect litter during surveys.
For Glen Cove resident Sam Grella, an aquatic and fishery science major at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, volunteering began with the coalition’s oyster restoration program before expanding into horseshoe crab monitoring.
Grella’s interest grew after she advocated for the Horseshoe Crab Protection Act, signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December 2025, which led Grella to volunteer with the statewide monitoring program.
Taking part in the statewide effort, she said, has been especially rewarding. “Knowing that I’ve been able to contribute to this, and knowing that I’ve been able to provide help in this way, just makes me feel good, knowing that I’m contributing to something bigger,” she said, “and that it will most likely, and hopefully, have a significant effect on people who wish to do the same in their own way.”
Great Neck resident Junchi Tang began volunteering alongside his 17-year-old son, Brandon, after Brandon discovered the program while researching environmental issues affecting horseshoe crabs.
“I enjoyed it,” Tang said. “My son definitely enjoyed it.”
The experience, Tang said, introduced them to volunteers from across the region while teaching them about horseshoe crab conservation and marine science. “We got to meet different people from different towns,” he said.
The coalition has documented a total of 1,641 horseshoe crabs throughout the course of this season, with this year’s highest count in a single night reaching 417. Organizers say they hope to expand monitoring to additional beaches in Hempstead Harbor, after preliminary observations suggested that horseshoe crabs may also be spawning at North Hempstead Beach Park.
Residents interested in joining next year’s monitoring effort can learn more on the Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor’s website, CoalitionToSaveHempsteadHarbor.org, which includes information about the monitoring program and a year-round survey for reporting horseshoe crab sightings.
