Scott:
 
Thank you for your interesting thoughts.  We are originally from
California and thought when the law about 1,000 feet from shore went
in...it was rather stupid.  We lived on the Santa Barbara Coast and
there was one Fish & Game Waren who had to patrol a couple of hundred
miles of beach....plus when we dove from shore...how did he know when we
came in ... how far out we had been.
 
But, I agree, what is the difference in taking a shell or taking a fish
or a lobster or a crab or a shrimp??
 
Dr. Abbott spoke to our club in Calif. about this and told how shells
lay hundreds of eggs and reproduce a lot.
 
There is currently a ban on Queen Conchs (Strombus gigas) in Florida.
On Peanut Island....there are now hundreds of Queen Conchs.  It won't be
long before we are overrun by conchs and getting the ban off of a
protected species is almost IMPOSSIBLE.
 
Why not have a season for the Queen Conch....or like you said how about
a scientific collecting license.
 
The abalone in California was wiped out because the commercial fishermen
could take thousands of them...the sports fisherman could only take five
when we were there.  The sports fisherman is being bunished.  In Japan
they have seasons on their abalone and move the seasons around their
coast...so certain areas can collect for a certain amount of time and
then it is closed and another area is open....Calif.  could have done
that years ago.
 
We just returned from the Island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas.  On this
island of 100 miles...conchs have been taken out of the sea for hundreds
of years...(no telling how many a day).  In front of the cottages we
stay in conch boats come in every day loaded.   We have been shelling
there for the last 5-6 years and we STILL see conch every where??
Shells are NOT being wiped out by overcollecting.
 
I do, however, believe in not overcollecting....only taking one or two
of the best specimens.  I also believe shell colonies move from area to
area....people are thinking an area is wiped out just because the shells
that were there last year...aren't there now...they probably moved to
another area for a better food source.
 
I, too, am getting tired of hearing how awful we are because we took
a  few species alive.  We never take juveniles...we never
overcollect...and we never disturb the eggs.
 
A good subject to bring up at COA.
 
--
Jim & Bobbi Cordy
Specializing in Self-Collected
Caribbean & Florida Shells