Marlo and All,



There is another aspect to the outward appearance of shell clubs not yet
discussed. This directly relates to the popularity of these clubs in
"younger" people.



Let me start by apologizing to all of those that I am about to offend.



I am not "younger" currently, but have been a shell club member for almost
20 years - Not just a member, several times an officer! My involvement has
waxed and waned over the years but I did try to attend all meetings while an
officer, many times contributing programs, educational or not, and often
contributing to newsletters.



Though a shell collector for 44 years, I have had other interests as well,
among them racing cars, off road vehicles, travel and scuba. The last two
fit nicely with being a "shell collector" and allowed me - no - us to expand
our collection and in some small way, maybe contribute in a more
 "scientific" way. So my wife and I have been diver collectors for 19 years.



Now to my point - These other interests were also pursued with long time
friends. I remember several times meeting to go for an ATV ride on Sunday. I
would tell my fellows that I would have to cut it short to attend a meeting
that afternoon. Later, it would go something like this:



Friend - (Covered with mud, maybe bleeding a bit here and there from contact
with blackberries, bushes, trees, etc.) "So what's your meeting about?"



Me - (Indistinguishable in appearance from friend and a bit reluctant) "It's
our shell club."



Friend - (Looks as though I had just put on a dress and high heels) "Shell
club! I suppose that you are going to have tea and cookies?"



Me - (Putting down my beer) "Well yes, we might."



I would usually leave it at that not needing to prove that shell collecting
was a "manly" pursuit. And the proof might have actually put my friend in
his place, something I did not need to do. Little did he know the extremes
Sue and I had gone to in the quest for "seashells". I could have asked him
if he would dive into near freezing water, in a snow storm, with 5 feet of
visibility, in high current, near the maximum depth for scuba to collect
Calliostoma annulatum. Would he dive with sharks, eels, jellyfish, seasnakes
and poisonous fish to collect a shell? Would he venture into politically
unstable parts of the world, face "federalies" with machine guns and the
ever present customs agents "Sir, what is that smell coming from your
luggage?" NO?! How about totaling a hotel shuttle bus or having a tooth
pulled in a small village in Mexico? Of course it was also needless to point
out that a woman, my wife, had done these thing as well.



The obvious hazard in pointing these things out was a move clear past
 "manly" to "crazy".  But, we would not have it any other way and still
attend meetings occasionally.



Russ (and Sue)







----- Original Message -----
From: "marlo" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2007 6:59 AM
Subject: [CONCH-L] Thoughts on shell collecting


> Many have responded to my initial post on this subject.  Everyone's input
> is
> appreciated.  However, it appears many may not have actually read my
> initial
> post, but are responding to later posts.  Therefore, I'd like to present
> an
> abbreviated version of my initial remarks.
>
> Sat 12/22/2007:
>
> Fabio Moretzsohn lamented the decline of shell clubs. Then, Peter Egerton
> wondered where all the US dealers have gone. And, today John Varner
> philosophizes about "When" in shell collecting "the desire to acquire
> becomes obsessive, and our pursuit leads to a deterioration in human
> relations or the environment, it is certainly time to step back and think
> about what we are doing." He concludes that it can be justified if when we
> collect we "redouble efforts to share my collection with as many people as
> I
> can, to endorse conservation, to support groups & politicians who work for
> the environment, to maximize the good, minimize the bad."
>
> I personally am happy to see the decline in interest by the "general
> collecting public." I argue that general collectors (and especially
> collectors of shell craft artifacts) are directly and indirectly highly
> destructive of a diminishing, living resource in today's world. I
> distinguish between general collectors (those who amass collections for
> the
> sake of having a collection simply to have a collection, to compete with
> others, to have the biggest/most perfect or most, or to satisfy their
> collector personality) versus natural history collectors (those who
> collect
> limited, representative samples only for their own use for the purpose of
> study, advancement of knowledge and education). My feelings are that we
> have
> so diminished the natural environment with development and pollution, so
> expanded collecting techniques, and so expanded the commercial
> exploitation
> of shells for both general collectors and craft, as to create significant
> and increasingly focused pressures on diminishing habitat resulting in
> extinction of many species in many locales. In the past there was not a
> mass
> market for shells or shell craft products. It's quite different today. For
> these reasons shell collectors will have a greater and greater impact,
> esp.
> if the hobby was to grow proportionally with the growth in world-wide
> wealth. So, I do not lament the decline in shell collecting simply as a
> "hobby for the masses." This is not to say I oppose "responsible
> collecting."  But, after more than 60 years of human interaction, I know
> it
> would be impossible to expect the average hobbyist to be motivated to be
> "responsible" about a hobby of this nature. Here is the code (shortened
> from
> the original 10) that I believe represents "responsible shell collecting."
>
> 1. Collect for the sake of knowledge, facilitating science-oriented
> knowledge, sharing knowledge and sharing what is collected.
> 2. Collect for representation of a species and not simply for the biggest,
> best, most.
> 3. Collect live material only in limited numbers, only when known to be
> very
> plentiful, only from artificial habitats where they would not otherwise
> exist, or in circumstances where the certainty is high they will die or be
> destroyed in the very near future.
> 4. Carefully examine all live-collected material and leave in place any
> specimens you will not actually use in accordance with #1.
> 5. Never collect shells to trade or give away unless for a source you know
> will use them in accordance with #1.
> 6. Don't collect for the purpose of joining a social club or to win
> ribbons
> and trophies at shell shows. If this is your main interest, choose a
> collecting hobby that doesn't destroy habitat and kill wildlife.
>
>
> Marlo
> merritt island, fl
>
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