Getting a workout rescuing horseshoe crabs

I had a workout last Thursday, rescuing some 300 horseshoe crabs from a 100m gill net in thigh-deep mud under a blazing sun and did I mention thigh-deep mud? My hamstrings reminded me all weekend. I wrote the story up for the record in Habitatnews.

Last Thursday morning, I returned to a spot in Mandai mangroves where I had encountered an entangled mass of horseshoe crabs the previous night during a field trip (I actually prefer “xiphosurans“). I rushed down alone for what I thought would be a quick job, breaking a cardinal rule in the process by not having breakfast. With nothing but a slurpee for dinner the previous night, naturally the rescue took five hours instead!

Working quickly to prevent a blazing sun from roasting the animals, I released more than 100 horseshoe crabs after almost two hours. There were lots more to free, I was already exhausted and my 1 litre water bottle was almost empty. I considered calling for help but no one would be able to find me except for one, out of contact ex-student. The large amount of instruction required for anyone to find me was too tiring to think about and if they had a low skill level for release, I’d have wasted time. So help wasn’t an option and I decided to keep going.

The rising sun was roasting the animals trapped in the open faster than those under shade (the net stretched from mudflat to mangrove). There was a stream nearby. The long net could not be dragged in one piece due to roots sticking out of the ground. I would need to hydrate the animals to prevent their gills from drying out. Released horseshoe crabs might get entangled with the net again.

I broke the job down into achievable modules and created a mental schedule I would be able to beat – this was to keep my spirits up. This took seconds since it was all familiar ground:

1. I cut up net into sections, dragging the more exposed animals into the lower reaches of the stream first.
2. I released the animals into the stream and placed the cut net sections out of reach on the mud banks while I satin the stream and prevented them from crawling up stream.
3. When the sun blazed too long without cloud cover, I walked to the upstream sections to turn the exposed side of net bundles into the stream to keep all the animals hydrated.
4. Before returning to the current section I was working on, I turned over released animals that had struggled into a vulnerable belly-up position.
5. I faced the straits so that I could keep an eye on the tide – as it rose quickly, I shifted three of the upper sections in to the mangrove where I could still work yet keep the animals well hydrated.

I am not sure how many xiphosurans survived in the end, and whether I had been quick enough in my release. I know the tougher ones can survive a few days in other encounters and these were in much better shape than those.

I got out, after washing up in the rising tide and dragging two sealed bags of cut net into the back mangrove. Then I trudged to the petrol station nearby by putting one foot in front of the other – my goal was a six-pack of Milo! That sustained me through my 6pm appointment for I forgot to bring my wallet and the person I met had no money on her! So it was 8pm before I had food again. Anything would have been tasty then!

So I had gone through two mangrove field trips in 32 hours with only a cup of coffee, one slurpee and the six packs of milo. It is good to have plenty of reserves under such circumstances!

Most importantly, I need to work on a bigger picture solution to this problem, also my fitness needs considerable help and I need to restart my old mangrove programme so that there are more names I can think of in such situations.