Oh shucks David, now you are making me feel guilty for watching the
A-Roid story on 60 Minutes tonight.



On 1/12/14, David Kirsh <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> Sorry, Dennis, but lumping "green", environmental and animal rights
>> activists together is thoroughly misleading and misguided.
>>
>> In my opinion, environmental activists are probably our
>> (malacologists/shell collectors) truest allies, whether we recognize their
>> work or not. Last time I checked, the media was continuing to obscure
>> environmental issues when it bothered to cover them at all, since A-Rod's
>> foibles are so much more important than the veracity of environmentalists'
>> critique of the Keystone XL pipeline, or much more important than even
>> attempting to inform the public about the Trans-Pacific Partnership
>> negotiations (a provision in the proposed agreement could trump any
>> sovereign laws of a signatory nation).
>>
>> Please don't confuse PETA with environmental activism.
>>
>> Yes, there are ridiculous laws and regulations. But I hope you're not
>> arguing against regulations in general. We need environmentalist activism
>> to promote regulations and enforcement, for example, to end the dumping of
>> sewage on Florida reefs.
>>
>> Also, I just got back from Jamaica and used Lonely Planet guide. If it was
>> constantly telling me that collecting seashells is illegal, I missed it.
>>
>> David Kirsh
>>
>> Durham, NC
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Dennis Sargent
>> Sent: Jan 12, 2014 8:26 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Shells & tourists! What's next? the Kowalewski
>> answer
>>
>> Hi Everyone,
>>
>>
>>
>> I have seen the activities of the rabid green activists result in
>> regulation
>> upon regulation being imposed upon those of us in the private sector who
>> respect and continue to study nature.
>>
>> My involvement with Biology and Zoology covers several areas. My major
>> interest in the past was herpetology. From 2006 to 2009 I captive bred and
>> produced more specimens of the endangered Jamaican Boa, Epicrates
>> subflavus,
>> than all of the AZA zoos who were listed as working with this species.
>> They
>> were all distributed to other private breeders who were also interested in
>> preserving the species. No money changed hands! The pet industry involving
>> the reptile trade was at a level that an estimated 90% of the specimens
>> sold
>> in the USA were produced in this country by commercial captive breeders.
>> Since 2008 and especially during the Obama years, many species have been
>> regulated as illegal including some harmless species that cannot reproduce
>> in our environment. These were deemed injurious and/or invasive through
>> bogus papers released by government agencies and authored by fraud
>> pseudo-scientists. A report written by Gordon Rodda* and released under
>> the
>> auspices of the USGS, claimed that the Burmese Python is capable of
>> colonizing the United States as far north as Tennessee. In actuality they
>> will develop respiratory ailments and die at temperatures in the 50s or
>> 60s
>> F. As a consequence, hundreds of licensed, commercial breeders have gone
>> out of business.
>>
>>
>>
>> Activist organizations continue to manufacture incidents and promote news
>> coverage to influence legislation. HSUS (the Humane Society of the United
>> States) collects donations by showing cats and dogs in distress, however;
>> almost all of the funds collected are used to influence politics and to
>> compensate their directors. PETA, is another organization that continues
>> to
>> intimidate zoos, aquariums, private enterprise and individuals who do not
>> agree with their extreme views. The Lonely Planet tourism guides
>> constantly
>> tell their readers that the collection of seashells is illegal everywhere,
>> even if it is not, and claim environmental catastrophe as a result.
>>
>>
>>
>> In Malacology we are starting to see the same, as many of our shipments of
>> specimens coming into the company are opened and inspected by Us Fish and
>> Wildlife. Some of us have had to pay inspection fees that far exceed the
>> commercial value of the contents of the package. Travelers who purchase
>> seashells legally in other countries are having them confiscated as they
>> reach the United States. This decision is left to the discretion of the
>> inspecting officer. Several counties in Florida, including Lee County,
>> prohibit the collection of live seashells. Live shells by description also
>> include shells with a hermit crab inside. This is rather interesting as
>> Sanibel Island is located in Lee County and it promotes itself as the
>> seashell collecting capital of the world! To give due respect, many other
>> jurisdictions place a limit on the number of specimens of each species,
>> that
>> can be collected. These counties have been influenced by the testimony of
>> many of us on this forum.
>>
>>
>>
>> It is imperative that those of us who have devoted our time and study and
>> for some of us, our life's work, continue to expose these frauds. It is
>> our
>> responsibility to educate and ignite interest in this wonderful world and
>> its inhabitants to the next generations. If we do not continue to succeed,
>> we could wind up with a planet of scientific illiterates where all
>> non-commercial wildlife and plants will have no value and will be either
>> ignored or eliminated.
>>
>>
>>
>> Pardon my rant, but what happened to the reptile industry could easily
>> happen to us. Marien, thank you for bring this [CONCH-L]
>>
>> I appreciate the author's response, however; the title by itself, "Global
>> Implications of Accelerating Loss of Shells to Tourism" will fuel the
>> environmental crazies. I have lived, dived and collected shells in
>> Florida,
>> along both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts and the number of dead shells on
>> the
>> beaches can vary drastically according to storms, weather, beach grooming,
>> dredging, backfilling, etc. This appears to have no bearing on the numbers
>> of live specimens offshore.
>>
>>
>>
>> Best wishes and keep up the fight,
>>
>> Dennis Sargent
>>
>>
>>
>> * The Rodda paper has been discredited by several subsequent studies.
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2014 4:40 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [CONCH-L] Shells & tourists! What's next? the Kowalewski
>> answer
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> Slavery is the legal fiction that a
> Person is Property. Corporate
> Personhood is the legal fiction that
> Property is a Person.
>
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