Hello All,

fully agree with the synthesis of George.

Guido
Belgium, just daylight. Still cold. I'll spend the day with African
knives.

About freshwater: these American Unionids are the coolest, how can a
mussel know how a fish or a crayfish look ? One of the great unsolved
mysteries of life.
Go to: http://unionid.missouristate.edu/


On 12 29, 07, at 9:45 AM, GEORGE WATTERS wrote:

> Random thoughts:
>
> 1. I wish I had a shell club here in central Ohio, USA. I do not
> see how a shell club is anything but beneficial to molluscs. How
> can even the most inactive club possibly be better than nothing at
> all in terms of educating the public?
>
> 2. The idea that collecting for collecting's sake is wrong is...
> wrong. Our museums are based, in large part, by the accumulation of
> "natural history cabinets," people who regarded shells (and
> anything else of a natural history nature) as a curiosity to be
> acquired. They acquired them before anyone else and placed them
> into their Curiosity Cabinets, where at some point they were
> described by later scholars.  Had they not amassed them, for
> whatever reason, they may not have been unrecognized.
>
> 3. The idea that fulfilling a list, the "postage stamp" approach,
> is wrong is also wrong. I collect Muricidae. I attempt to collect
> ALL of them. I would be a happy camper if I had EVERY species. Send
> me your Muricidae! I would suggest that these collectors know every
> bit as much about their respective groups as do the professionals
> and probably supply the professionals with fodder to describe. How
> can you toss aside such knowledge?
>
> 4. The idea that professional malacologists, or at least "serious
> collectors," should be able to collect shells rather than amateurs
> is  often implied in related arguments. There is nothing magical
> about modern malacologists. Most "amateurs" have forgotten more
> than "professional" malacologists will ever know, particularly
> geneticists. The field of malacology would be destitute without the
> input of amateurs, a fact that some of the Young Turks seem to have
> forgotten in their hegemony.
>
> 5. I work (and am paid to deal) with freshwater molluscs. I have
> studied them for decades. I am often asked to comment or even
> testify on their behalf. The idea that collectors are responsible
> for decimating a species is, in my opinion, ridiculous. No species
> has been driven to extinction by collectors, that I am aware of.
> Pollution, habitat loss, impoundment, and exotics are responsible
> for the demise of most species. But it is much easier to arrest a
> shell collector than it is to arrest a huge company. And a shell
> collector is much easier to show to a TV camera as the bad guy than
> a multi-million dollar faceless company. The same is true of
> collectors in Sanibel or wherever... it is just not cool to collect
> living animals as a hobby... or a science. But the beach dredgings
> continue, the dams continue, the pollution continues...
>
> 6. We live in an uncomfortable time for biologists. Animal rights'
> advocates have put our science under our own microscopes. In my lab
> we infest fish with parasitic mussel larvae in an effort to save
> these endangered species, but the fish have more protection and
> surveillance than my own kids! It is not cool to collect living
> animals, even for the sake of science.
>
> I guess my summary of thoughts on this matter is:
>
> a) The more clubs the better. Any dissemination of knowledge is
> better than nothing.
>
> b) Collectors, even those for non-science, are NOT the problem.
> They are a fart in the wind compared to the industrialization and
> commercialization that is ravaging molluscan habitats.
>

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