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> From: Jenny Scarboro <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: EYES ONLY
> Date: Thursday, January 08, 1998 8:54 AM
>
> What a fascinating undercurrent to our community of shell lovers!  I
think
> I need a decoder ring to decipher the initials, though.  Let me dig out
my
> back issues of AmConch and scan the dealer ads...
>
> In light of the embarassment these obvious missends will cause, isn't
this
> the strongest evidence yet that the list needs to be "safed" against
> autoreplies?
>
> I don't think I'm going to be buying any more shells.  You know, I sat
back
> the other night and meditated on what my money was really doing.  I
suspect
> my money is ending up in the hands of local people who don't appreciate
> shells or conservation, only the fast American buck it brings them.  I
> really feel the commercial shell trade has far more to do with the
> devastation of coral reef ecosystems than individual collectors and
divers.
>  Shell and shellcraft dealers pay locals to supply them in bulk with
> freshly killed mollusca.  How many of these suppliers do you really think
> have much interest in using enlightened collection techniques, such as
> leaving rocks as we find them and not molesting breeding pairs, etc.  Do
> you really think a Phillipine fisherman with six mouths to feed at home
> really worries about what he does to the environment as he wields his
> crowbar, ranging over the reef for whatever might bring Western cash into
> his pocket?  Not only shells, but corals, fish, and a host of other
things
> he sells to the "shell stall" merchants.
>
> By supporting dealers -- and I hate to say this because I have made
friends
> of many, and I don't believe any one is intentionally supporting
> detrimental collection practices -- I have been contributing to the
> destruction of the very creatures I admire and study.  I pay the dealer,
> who pays the exporter, who pays the fisherman who finds the shells by any
> means necessary.
>
> I am blessed by being fully able to go out and self-collect, so my
newfound
> principles on paying dealers who buy wholesale are easy for me.  Many of
> you may not have the luxury of being able to snorkel or scuba, or travel
> widely.  For many, buying is their primary means of collection.  Does the
> end justify the means, if it requires that there will be fewer and fewer
> specimens left in pristine environment to be collected by future
> generations?  If we can live with that upon our conscience, then so be
it.
>
> Personally, though -- and I have to admit the "Eyes Only" exchange just
> tilted the scales a little further -- I don't think I can in good
> conscience support a system which fundamentally contributes to wholescale
> harvestation of a very fragile ecosystem.
>
> Now, that's controversial...
>
>
>
> Jenny