Take Action to Stop Commercial Firefly Harvest

Not long ago, I blogged about Firefly Watch, a research project that enlists an army of volunteer firefly watchers to gather data about their status. Scientists and firefly enthusiasts believe these twinkling summer bugs are in decline, thanks mostly to human impacts on their habitat.

Commercial harvesting of fireflies may soon lead to their extinction.
Photo: Flickr user seanmcgrath

The folks at Firefly Watch sent out an email alert today about another serious threat to firefly populations - commercial harvesting. Fireflies produce an enzyme called luciferase, a key ingredient in the chemical reaction that allows them to generate light. In the lab, luciferase can be a valuable tool in biomedical research and food safety testing.

This market for luciferase has put a bounty on the tails of native fireflies, and some fear the demand may lead to their extinction. Scientists buy dessicated fireflies or powdered luciferase from chemical suppliers. Where do the chemical companies get the fireflies? Mostly from a little business based in Oak Ridge, Tennessee called the Firefly Project. Sounds innocent enough, right?

Each year, the Firefly Project posts ads in local papers, inviting residents to make a little money doing something fun - collecting fireflies. In 2008, the going price was $12 per ounce - about 600 fireflies. For many of the firefly collectors, it's a family affair, with parents and children spending evenings together catching as many fireflies as they can. The work takes on the flavor of a good 'ole fashion competition, with newspapers reporting the season tallies for counties, towns, and families. And while everyone's having all this fun, fireflies are suffocating in glass jars by the thousands.

And here's the real kicker. Twenty years ago, scientists developed a synthetic version of luciferase that's actually superior to the natural enzyme. There's no need to harm a single firefly for research purposes today. But chemical companies keep selling them, so the Firefly Project keeps supplying them, and the harvest of fireflies continues.

Several concerned scientists have started a campaign called FLASH Together Now to end the commercial harvest of fireflies. You can learn more about the firefly harvest, and why it needs to end, on their website.

Take Action to Stop the Commercial Firefly Harvest:

1. Email the Firefly Project (the company that pays people to collect wild fireflies) and ask them to stop harvesting fireflies. Their email address is fireflyproject@yahoo.com.



2. Write to the Sigma-Aldrich Corporation and ask them to stop selling luciferase produced from fireflies and other firefly products.

   Sigma-Aldrich Corporation
   P.O. Box 14508
   St. Louis, Missouri 63178

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