Horseshoe crabs are among the world’s oldest and most fascinating creatures which are estimated to be at least 300 million years old. Despite their immense medicinal values, people of the coastal districts have little care for them where once they were abundantly available. Now not only has their number declined but many of them are found as dead in the coastal areas.
In order to bring awareness among the people, especially among the young group about the unique crab and its conservation, a drawing competition was held in a multipurpose cyclone centre at Bahabalpur recently. Children in large numbers participated in the event hosted under the banner of ‘Know Me Save Me’ which was organised jointly by the Horseshoe crab research unit under the Department of Bio- science and Biotechnology of FM University in association with Ramakrishna Kala Kendra and local artists. “These crabs were once found aplenty, but they are hardly seen these days. The present initiative is only to bring awareness among people,” said Kesu Das, an artist who helped in organising the art camp. Brahmanath Rath, another environmentalist, said the time has come to make people aware of the crabs and take measure for their conservation.
“A team led by Dr Anil Chattrajee had carried out a research on the crabs for a few years in the late nineties under a project. Yet, efforts would be made to revive further research works on the horseshoe crab,” said Baleswar MP Rabindra Kumar Jena. “Now-a-days, only dead crabs are found in the coast. Unrestricted trawlers and mechanized boat movement is causing their deaths and could be deterring their incoming. Our department is working in the field. Discussions on the crabs were held in the Indian Science Congress held in Mumbai recently and in the next month an international seminar would be held in Tokyo where papers would be presented on the topic,” Bio-science and Bio–technology Department head Dr Bishnu Prasad Dash said.