page_title: Red knot
section_title: Threats to the subspecies rufa
hierarchical_section_title: Red knot / Status / Threats to the subspecies rufa
caption_attribution_description: English: Red Knot feeding on eggs of Horseshoe crabs. Mispillion Harbor, Delaware
context_page_description: The red knot is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada, Europe, and Russia. It is a large member of the Calidris sandpipers, second only to the great knot. Six subspecies are recognised.
  Their diet varies according to season; arthropods and larvae are the preferred food items at the breeding grounds, while various hard-shelled molluscs are consumed at other feeding sites at other times. North American breeders migrate to coastal areas in Europe and South America, while the Eurasian populations winter in Africa, Papua New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand. This species forms enormous flocks when not breeding.
context_section_description: Towards the end of the 19th century, large numbers of red knot were hunted commercially for sport and food as they migrated through North America. It is hypothesized that more recently, the birds have become threatened as a result of commercial harvesting of horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay which began in the early 1990s. Delaware Bay is a critical stopover point during spring migration, supporting an estimated 50 to 80 percent of all migrating rufa red knots each year; the birds refuel by eating the eggs laid by these crabs (with little else to eat in the Delaware Bay). If horseshoe crab abundance in the Bay is reduced there may be fewer eggs to feed on which could negatively affect knot survival.
  In 2003, scientists projected that at its current rate of decline the American subspecies, rufa, might become extinct as early as 2010, but as of April 2011 the subspecies is still extant.  In New Jersey, state and local agencies are taking steps to protect these birds by limiting horseshoe crab harvesting and restricting beach access. In Delaware, a two-year ban on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs was enacted but struck down by a judge who cited insufficient evidence to justify the potential disruption to the fishing industry but a male-only harvest has been in place in recent years.
  Late in the fall of 2014, the red knot rufa was listed as a federally threatened species under the United States Endangered Species Act – the second most critical status that can be awarded to a subspecies. This followed a decade of intensive petitioning by environmental groups and a lawsuit against the Department of the Interior for alleged negligence in the protection of endangered species through failure to evaluate and list them. The reasons for the red knot rufa's listing were varied; habitat degradation, loss of key food supplies, and threats posed by climate change and sea level rise were all listed as factors that were considered when the red knot rufa was listed.
  Knot populations appear to have stabilized in recent years, though at low levels.
caption: Red knot feeding on horseshoe crab eggs in Delaware Bay
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