I agree -  We have collected on the field for over 40 years now and have
personally witnessed the moving of species.
 
Some species can be found in an area for a while and they move.   They might
move also because the area has been dredged .... their source of food has
declined, etc.
 
I really DO NOT believe that shell populations are destroyed by the private
collectors.
The "tourist" often takes buckets of shells and they end up in the garbage
can!!!!
 
Habitat is the BIG factor....I think most of these shells have just moved to
another area.
 
Isn't it interesting how fast the Queen Conch population has come back?   The
biggest collector for this shells is the restaurant business!!!!   NOT the
private collector.  Also
how much of their habitat has been disturbed in the Keys with building?
 
We collect in the Bahamas about 4-5 times a year and always find lots of Queen
Conchs and these people have brought in hundreds of these every day for eons as
a source of food.
 
Recently someone said you have to go deeper for these now.  Naw...we find them
in 3-5 feet all the time.
 
We were very good friends with Tucker Abbott...he was an active member in our
shell club and he said the decline can NEVER be blamed on the collector.   He
did a program and showed us how many shells they reproduce and it would be
almost impossible for the collector to wipe them out.
 
This beach "renourishment" stuff sure doesn't help.
 
Hurricanes certainly must be a part of the shells be moving around also.
 
While we were in Calif. we collected abalone both for food and for the shells.
We were allowed to bring in 5 a day and they had to be a certain size.   The
commercial abalone divers were allowed to bring in as many as they wanted.  Now
no one can collect abalone because of the decline.
 
At the same time the sea otter (which is protected) eats abalone.  Because they
are protected the sea otter populations is immense and the law to unprotect the
sea otter is almost impossible to change.
 
In Japan the abalone not only has a limit but they only open a part of their
coastline at a time to collect...therefore, the areas are rotated every 5 years
to collecting ... SMART.
 
Just had to put in my two - cents.
 
 
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--
Jim and Bobbi Cordy
of Merritt Island, Florida.
Specalizing in Self-Collected
Caribbean & Florida Shells