Conchers,

Certainly a sad tale.

Coming back into Phoenix from Guaymas on the Gulf of California in Mexico,
the customs person and her dog walked around my big bag of shells and the
dog sat down right next to the bag-which I thought was the universal dog
training for "check this bag."  The customs person asked the bag's content
and I told her "dead shells" and she said "we sure don't want to be looking
at smelly shells."

My novice sheller roommate on the trip from Canada had both U.S. and
Canadian customs to negotiate and had a list of all CITES shells he could
not bring into Canada from Mexico(Strombus gigas, certain Ellptio Unionids)
and I assured him nothing we had collected from the Gulf of California was
on his list. He made both customs without incident.

Question:  Has anyone had problems with shells self collected in the
People's Republic of China exiting the country or coming back into the U.S.?
I think I would only have common shells from the local seafood market (all
Non-CITES) similar to what Martin had purchased in the Philippines.

Thanks,

Alan Gettleman
Merritt Island, Florida

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