by KYW's David Madden

New Jersey has issued an open-ended ban on the harvesting of horseshoe crabs. 

Governor Jon Corzine’s action extends a ban in place since 2005, and is meant to provide food for the red knot, a migratory shore bird whose numbers were dwindling because they had a hard time finding food on their journey between the Arctic and South America:

"For some people, protecting species sounds like an abstract concept, an obscure policy debate that doesn’t impact people’s lives. Nothing could be further from the truth."

While environmentalists may be thrilled, the fishing industry is not, although New Jersey’s action will have no effect on neighboring Delaware, where a planned harvest of 100,000 horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay is still on.