Kevin,
Thanks.  Some people got a little touchy.  Sometimes the truth hurts.  I
don't like it any more than anyone else.

Back in the 1960's Achatina fulica infested the Miami region.  They got rid
of it.  Through the hard work of a league of volunteers and paid workers
and a successful public education program, the area was picked clean.  Not
that this would work at all with the Zebra clam, but nowadays we'd wring
our hands, beat our chests, rend our clothes and hair, and spend $5 million
over 5 years on how the species reproduces and what their preferred
habitats were.  In the meantime, Achatina would take over.  Whoever was the
Director of the Florida Division of Plant Industries really did a fine job
on that one.  His/her decision was short, sweet, to the point, successful,
brilliant.

Survey work is imperative for us to answer many of the other questions we
have.  Survey-oriented field biologists are way too few and far between.
However, in many disciplines, including malacology, private collectors help
to fill the gap.  I applaud their efforts.

Kurt