Several factors will exterminate many species, and unfortunately individual
actions hardly will make any difference if big companies or governments
don't do their parts.

I've been collecting shells since I was a kid and I see the difference of
shell population in Brazilian beaches from 1970's to today.

Sometimes small things that seems to not affect anyone are very bad for sea
life. I just returned from Marshall Islands, and due to a simple act of a
hotel many animals disappeared from a place which 10 years ago was very
rich. The hotel filled a portion of its shore to make more rooms and killed
everything under water. We dove all over the island and that was the only
place were we found Cypraea cribraria gaspardi. This time, not a single
specimen was found. The island itself is becoming a giant dumpster, with
hundreds of old cars being left to rust on the beach on under water.

It seems Governments don't really care about environment until it is too
late. We had a big war here about Achatina, until finally after 10 years
fighting people breeding them here we were able to convince our government
to accept the fact these animals are a real danger.

I just wish the movie The Day After Tomorrow never happens... Kyoto Treaty
is an important matter but it is not easy to every Country to sign it for
different reasons.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2233897.stm

The only thing I can advise collectors is to keep accurate records of shell
collecting and to keep their shells for future generations since it will the
only way people will know how beautiful these animals were once.

We keep records of all our trips, and we advise all new collectors how
important is to save these information and never let other people say
collectors are destroying our environment - you may say we are keeping
knowledge for those who won't have a chance to see live shells on the
beach...

Marcus



Marcus Coltro
WWW.FEMORALE.COM

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