Betty Jean Piech you wrote:
It always amazes me that when perople start critiquing
the individual shell collector they never mention the things that are really
causing the problem.
 
I must agree that habitat destruction is causing much more harm then a few
over zealous collectors. Whether it's the french who use the north sea off
England for a dumping ground for everything including nuclear and toxic
wastes. When you consider that France relies on nuclear power for running
most of their power plants the amount of waste dumped in excessive. All of
this "waste" circulates in the great gulf stream and eventually makes it to
our local waters. As for the sewage outfalls it is not only Miami but just
about every city all the way up the coast that disposes of waste in this
manner. At least in the United States we treat our sewage. Have you ever
been to Hong Kong harbor on a hot summers day? When the ship I was attached
to in the Navy anchored there, we were told by the ship's doc that if we
survived a fall into the water we would face a regiment of at least 15
different injections.  We must say though that when we push that little
chrome handle on the water closet we tent to think about where it ends up,
we sort of wash our hands of the problem.
        Waste management is a continuing area of great concern. But why all this
talk about waste? Because in most cases waste of every form eventually end
up in the ocean. Trash and sewage are good sources of methane and this gas
could be used to run boilers and create electricity.
 
As for the taking of shells I know that the majority of collectors do
adhere to the rules of conservation. But to some individuals the taking of
a single live mollusk is too much, let's go even a bit further and ask how
can we take dead shells as this deny a hermit crab of a future home.
An argument I've had with vegans about the sanctity of life and how can I
consume meat as this act is promoting the slaughter of those sweet little
cows and pigs. My argument is always two fold. First, when I eat a steak
it's cooked and quite dead , that salad is still alive.
Second, {and this always gets them} I ask how many germs and bacteria have
they killed just this morning while brushing their teeth..
Sure bacteria is not a cute little cuddly animal but it still meets the
criteria for a living organism....just a little something to ponder over
breakfast...Mark