Friends,

The USFWS uses the Lacey Act to regulate plant and wildlife transport.
Here's the meat of it:

§ 3372. Prohibited acts
(a) Offenses other than marking offenses
It is unlawful for any person—
(1) to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase any
fish or wildlife or plant taken,
possessed, transported, or sold in violation of any law, treaty, or
regulation of the United States or in
violation of any Indian tribal law;
(2) to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in
interstate or foreign commerce—
(A) any fish or wildlife taken, possessed, transported, or sold in
violation of any law or regulation of
any State or in violation of any foreign law, or.....

In other words, if it's illegal to take shells out of Costa Rica or
Jamaica, it's a federal offense to bring them into the US. This also
applies to transport in the US. You can see the document on:

http://www.fws.gov/le/pdffiles/lacey.pdf

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