Dear All,

I agree with many points in the email of Richard Goldberg.

However, I do not agree that shell collecting is declining. My
impression is that it has never been so alive as today. Conchology
Inc. has 6000+ registered members of which 3500 want to have their
two weekly emails on shells. This is without the non-registered
visitors, which are average daily over 1000 different persons. I
think this is a record of memberships that no club could ever match.
Even La Conchiglia in its glorious days never got more than 1600
members. Of Sea and Shore about the same. Tom Rice told me he is down
to less than 500 members and La Conchiglia no longer exists.

There is a huge change, as well in memberships of clubs, as in the
shell market. The internet is busy changing lots of things and I
expect further changes to go on in the next 10 years.

At the same time collecting shells becomes no longer political
correct as stated by Richard. This is a thing to worry about. Without
collecting there is no knowledge. Because without collecting there is
no proper observation. Just this night I read in an 1885 book on
Darwin's life that he collected from a very long age. And the
description of the planet goes through either collecting the real
thing or images - which today is a dream-time with the digital
technology.

I get the strong impression that there are at present MORE
organizations of conservation of mollusks than there exist taxonomic
EXPERTS in given groups of mollusks. While I approve the conservation
effort where it is truly needed - and reading the last Tentacula,
much of the efforts go to the correct things - I'm afraid that the
conservation effort will stop all research and the many tens of
thousands of species still to describe will never be known.

The final outcome probably will be that the majority will win. And
the majority will be the millions of young children that are now
educated in a completely wrong way, by teachers who know close to
nothing about nature and it's true living and thriving. Let alone
appreciate it, apart from a lion and a dolphin.

In the meantime we are our little community with about 15000 truly
interested ones. Let us enjoy, study and document things as long as
we are allowed.


Guido
Just dark here in Mactan Island. No dive tonight: finishing Volume II
on the Philippine shells.

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