>To those who are interested in Shelling In Florida:

>The environmentalists are winning here and they are as misinformed and
>authoritarian as in California.
>
>We did our best live collecting on the mainland near Ft. Myers and are so
>disgusted with the short-sightedness and ignorance of the locals regarding
>the true dangers to inland mollusc populations that we will not return
>there. The hypocrisy of these local officials is so great that it staggers
>my imagination. They deny us the right to harvest molluscs and then continue
>to allow development and pollution in sensitive mangrove and coastal marsh
>areas!!!! The fertilizer run-off in Lee and Charlotte Counties has been
>poisoning the Pine Island Sound for years - yet now they are not cleaning up
>their act, they, are simply not allowing any form of live shelling!


I believe Bob has an important point regarding the large-scale threat to
molluscan (and other critter) habitat by "development" and pollution.
However, I think we should be careful in blaming "environmentalists," or
misguided officials, or busybody tourists for our difficulties. It would
serve us all better to try to inform the misguided and try to get them to
re-direct their efforts. We're all in this together...is the outlook I
would try to impart.

As Bob points out, the large-scale threat generally comes from extremely
deep-pocketed segments of our society. These developers, agribusiness,
chemical manufacturers, etc., are more than happy to convince everyone that
all regulations are by definition unjust and oppressive. They are also glad
to have everyone believe that all environmentalists spike trees in order to
kill loggers and all enviromentalists want to blow up ski lodges.
Alternatively, they would be glad to have everyone believe that all we need
to do to remedy environmental degradation is to get everyone to recycle and
plant seedlings once a year.

This image problem regarding environmentalism is compounded by the fact
that almost all of the top ten environmental organizations in the US are
funded to a large extent by Big Oil money (Pew Charitable Trust, for
example). But there are certainly some serious environmentalists who are
knowledgeable and working very hard to combat the true sources of threat to
our natural world.

Anyhow, I think there's a danger sometimes that shellers get caught up in
feeling bitter about being inconvenienced in their hobby when there's much
more at stake regarding the habitats of their favorite natural organisms.
I'm reminded of the bumper-sticker from 20 years ago: "One nuclear bomb can
ruin your whole day!"

I, for one, would support a move for COA to come out (not only in favor of
responsible collecting but also) in opposition to activities that result in
the systemic destruction of habitat. We, as naturalists, scientists,
hobbyists, would do well to alert the public to the big picture. (This
would also help clear up misconceptions about the threat posed by removing
hermit crabs from shells, etc.)

Enough raving for tonight,

David
Durham, NC