Like you say Ross, it's "semi-mythical". Maybe someone from the Philippines
can enlighten us all, but I tried obtaining this list many years ago and
couldn't get it.

I heard that the list was originally based on a bureaucrat's visit to a
shell shop in Manila, where none of the shells had data and many were
imported from other countries. Hence, the list ended up including many
species that have never been collected in the Philippines...

There's certainly no enforcement, and "the list" - if it exists - certainly
has no legal standing once the shells are outside the Philippines.

I think the Philippine government comes up with these schemes at regular
intervals, as a nod to the environmentalist lobby. The reality is that a
nation of 7000 islands is always going to be heavily dependent on marine
resources, and so the legislation always seems to fade from memory very
fast.


Simon Aiken
Simon's Specimen Shells Limited
Registered in England and Wales company number 05236725


-----Original Message-----
From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ross
Mayhew
Sent: 03 July 2008 16:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CONCH-L] Semi-mythical list of "banned from export" species for
the Philippines

I have been trying for years now, to get the list of "rare" species the
Philippine government has banned from being exported - leucodon,
valentia and other high-end material - but have so far had no luck at
all in this quest. Something like this "should" be online SOMEWHERE, but
where??

Have there been any instances of enforcement of this unusual piece of
legislative regulation?  I still see all the supposedly "forbidden"
species being regularly offered by all and sundry, so it seems that
enforcement has been "spotty" at best......

Best,
Ross.

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