Paolo Albano wrote,

>That's definitely an original way to deal with
conservation!
If the causes of this decline are not clear enough,
would you really "collect the maximum"? You think overcollecting is not the
cause, but if you were wrong? Collecting the maximum would mean the
definitive loss of the populations.

It is, in a way, refreshing to hear Guido's opinion as to this, as I know he
is saying this out of love for shells, and he sounds just like the
19th-century naturalists who also loved their work and contributed so much
to our knowledge. Guido would not dynamite a reef just to collect specimens,
as fishermen do to "collect" fish.

Tim Flannery has pointed out ruefully that many Polynesian birds were seen
by naturalists only once, and some of them purposefully collected specimens
of birds that they knew were extremely rare and heading for extinction,
precisely because otherwise the birds would vanish without a trace. He also
pointed out that these species were probably already reduced to such low
numbers that there was nothing that the explorers could do to save them. And
now there is even a slight chance that some extinct species may be
resurrected from the DNA in these preserved specimens, though it seems
impossible in most cases. It's an idea that leaves me feeling conflicted.

Then there is the famous tale of the naturalist who sent men to collect the
last pair of great auks in their nesting grounds, ensuring their extinction.
They didn't even collect the egg. Most people now agree that, with great
auks already in museum collections, it was wrong to knowingly kill the last
of the species. However, in the late nineteenth century, when the Audubon
Society was founded, this was still a matter of debate.

On the whole, I would ask collectors in such situtations to ask themselves:
Why do I want to collect this shell? Is it for me, or for the world? Will
collecting it ultimately benefit the species or harm it? Would a photograph
or field note suffice instead?

In the case of collections that are destined for a museum, collectors should
bear in mind that most museums have shortages of staff and storage space.
Will the museum accept a large collection if it is offered? Who will pay for
cataloging, labeling, and storing the collection in perpetuity? Will it be
useful to future generations? Some of these questions should be worked out
ahead of time by discussions with museum staff.

Collecting is done by head as well as by hand!

Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama

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