>This incident underscores the danger that freshwater molluscan populations
>are in. Many species were originally restricted to one river system, and
>are now restricted only to the most pristine part of that river system. A
>single untoward event, such as an accidental spill on a highway, can have
>devastating and long-lasting consequences for endangered species. They have
>nowhere else to go.
>
>Tom, Doug, others: What is the proper role of the conchologist in
>freshwater mollusk conservation?
>
 
 
"Amateur" conchologists (who have contributed more to the science than all
of the "professionals") presently are not highly regarded by state and
federal agencies. They are viewed as part of the problem - stalking those
rare shells for personal greed and driving them to extinction - rather than
the valuable resource they actually are. In some US states, like Ohio, their
hands are tied by regulations that make it illegal to gather this
information, in the form of specimens, regardless of the importance of the
information. Unlike marine collectors, freshwater collectors usually must
get on someone else's property, which also gives them a bad name. But it is
the conchologist that usually finds that long-lost species, makes that range
extension, and donates material to the institutional collection.
 
G. Thomas Watters
Ohio Biological Survey &
Aquatic Ecology Laboratory
Ohio State University
1315 Kinnear Road
Columbus, OH  USA
v: 614-292-6170
f: 614-292-0181