A federal judge has scuttled South Carolina’s effort to restore its say over commercial horseshoe crab harvesting at Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge.
Though the state argued that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had violated the terms of a lease when it stopped the crab harvesting in 2023, a Charleston, South Carolina-based judge determined the litigation was both premature and unfounded.
“The State does not allege any facts to show that some individual or company has actually come forward seeking authorization from the State to take shellfish, finfish, or other salt water species from within the Refuge boundary,” U.S. District Judge Bruce Hendricks wrote in an opinion issued Wednesday.
Hendricks added that “it does not appear that there will be any horseshoe crab harvesting for the State to even authorize until 2028 at the earliest,” leading her to conclude the dispute was not ripe for judicial action.
