James,

The words of caution by members of this list should be heeded. All too
often, studies such as yours, no matter how well intended, end up being
taken out of context and misused as supporting evidence by those who don't
fully understand environmental problems and have no vested interest in the
subject they're trying to legislate.

During the wide spread flooding in the American Midwest in 1994, a group of
concerned duck hunters moved hundreds of nests to higher ground and saved
thousands of birds from the rising water. When the authorities found out,
these samaritans were arrested and jailed because it is against the law to
disturb the nests of migratory birds.

The problem with protective legislation is that, those who are the most
concerned, the most knowledgeable and the most active in studying and
conserving a resource, are usually the ones persecuted by enforcement
agencies because they're activities are most easily identifiable by
association.

The late R. Tucker Abbott stated repeatedly (and loudly) that "amateur shell
collectors contribute more to the general knowledge of molluscan habitat
than any other group." Yet, the activities of these people are the first to
be attacked when legislators are looking for a target. Pollution,
development, natural disasters, weapons testing, military manuvers, beach
replenishment, channel dredging, bridge and dam building, and huge
commercial fishing operations are all conspicuously missing from these
studies and reports or their impact minimized as being "necessary" for the
general public good.

Not long ago, I saw a cartoon of a large ship which had run aground on a
coral reef, spilling tons of toxic fuel into the water. In the foreground
was a proffessor-type being dragged away (a shell in his hand) by two
uniformed officers, one of them pointing to a sign with his night
stick..."Protect Our Environment!"

Need I say more?

Kim Hutsell
Field Research, Marine Malacology
San Diego

From: James C. Frank <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2000 6:43 PM
Subject: Re: Images and pictures...


> This is exactly what I am referring to, and am no way am I trying to
attack
> the scientific/learning community.  You folks are an excellent resource
for
> this kind of information because you care about the places these objects
of
> your affection come from.  I am working on this project as a simulation
for
> my class, so really, publication is long down the road, if it ever happens
> at all anyway...  besides this, it is important that you all realize that
> the point of the paper is to discuss a method of assessing the populations
> of target species (food species) for better regulation of stocks, which in
> the long run allows for more biodiversity on the reef, and a greater
> production than can be maintained by the exploitative methods used today
> (diving at night with full SCUBA gear for example).  I have heard numerous
> accounts of the need for divers to use SCUBA as a result of the
exploitation
> that's already occured in the inshore areas.  Protecting reefs means
> protecting every species, no matter it's economic significance on a global
> scale, and protecting every species preserves these resources for the
> future... look at Strombus gigas... look at the Tridacnids...  These
species
> were (and still are) under such high predation by us that they have had to
> be farmed and restocked.  By assessing these animals populations and
> dispersions now, we can prevent such situations from occurring in other
> species down the road.
>
> I hope this puts what I'm doing into perspective well enough.  So, you
have
> my word, I am not trying to bash the collection of shells.  I am merely
> trying to promote a better method of managing them as a resource for
> developing nations.
>
> Thanks again.
> -James
>
> ><)));>   ><)));>   ><)));>   ><)));>   ><)));>   ><)));>   ><)));>
> ><)));>   ><)));>
>
>                      James C. Frank
>                      Marine Science Major - The University of South
Carolina
>                      Aquarist - Riverbanks Zoo, Columbia, SC
>                      http://mudflat.geol.sc.edu/~jcfrank
>                      [log in to unmask]
>                      (803)544-2683
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Don Barclay <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, April 21, 2000 7:20 PM
> Subject: Re: Images and pictures...
>
>
> > Dear Masashi,
> >
> > Thank you very much for the informative post.  You illustrate very
> > well what I was suggesting, that it is the harvesting of molluscs
> > for food or commercial purposes--on a large scale--that cause
> > the populations to be stressed, and not scientific collecting.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> >
> > Don
> >
> > ----------
> > > From: Masashi Yamaguchi <[log in to unmask]>
> > > To: [log in to unmask]
> > > Subject: Re: Images and pictures...
> > > Date: Saturday, April 22, 2000 1:15 AM
> > >
> > > Dear Frank,
> > >
> > > Marine molluscan resources on Okinawa have been subjected to intensive
> >  exploitation or
> > over-harvesting
> > > after you were enjoying reef walks at low tides only a couple of
decades
> ago.
> >  When the
> > locals collected
> > > shells for home consumption during low tide periods, these molluscan
> >  populations had
> > plenty time for
> > > restocking by themselves. Things are all different now, because
> professional
> >  fishers
> > use diving gears and
> > > other advanced means of exploitation such as an underwater torch (that
> can
> >  make the
> > whole sea bottoms
> > > visible around the divers for easy catch of nocturnally active
species).
> Once
> >  the
> > brood-stocks were decimated
> > > it is very hard for reef dwellers to come back. There have been
> >  government-funded
> > projects to restock these
> > > molluscs (giant clams, green snail and trochus), but it takes a long
> looong
> >  time to get
> > them increased and
> > > to be self-propagating. The small giant clam (T. crocea) restocking
> project
> >  was
> > initiated in the early 1970s
> > > and juveniles produced in the government hatcheries have been planted
on
> the
> >  reefs in
> > many hundred of
> > > thousands so far, but the recovery is very slow. The trochus project
> followed
> >  and
> > juvenile releases have
> > > been underway but we must wait for several years to see the results,
as
> they
> >  grow to
> > maturity very slowly.
> > > The green snail project is the most recent since its life cycle was
not
> known
> >  until the
> > late 1980s. Juvenile
> > > mass-production has been established for this snail and releasing
> methods are
> >  under
> > investigation.
> > > It is so easy to destroy molluscan stocks of commercial value but very
> hard to
> >  restore
> > after destruction.
> > >
> > > Masashi Yamaguchi
> > > Univ. of the Ryukyus,
> > > on Okinawa