John Timmerman wrote:
> I recall reading on the Internet at the Florda Fish and Game site that it is
> legal to possess queen conch shells that do not have a hole in the spire which
> is to say a dead taken shell. It did not start that way but that loophole was
> added later.
Chapter 68B-16.001(3) of the FWC code states "The Commission
recognizes the common practice of drilling or tapping a hole
through the spire of the queen conch shell to facilitate
removing the live conch or conch meat from such shell, and
further recognizes that this method is the only practical means,
while on the water, of separating the live queen conch or conch
meat from its shell. In order to provide for effective
enforcement of the prohibition against killing live queen conch,
subsection 68B-16.003(5), F.A.C of this chapter provides that
possession of such a shell while in or on the water constitutes
a violation of this chapter."
The operative words here are "in/on the water". and the section
is specifically for the prosecution of commercial takers of S.g.
for the meat, not to protect casual collectors, and not to
prosecute illegal commercial shell collection. In other words,
if you are on a boat and have a drilled S.g., that is sufficient
evidence to be convicted of illegal possession.
68B-16.003(5) says that ") It is not unlawful for any person to
take or possess queen conch shells from the land or waters of
the State of Florida, so long as such shells do not contain any
living queen conch at the time of taking, and so long as a
living queen conch is not killed, mutilated, or removed from its
shell prior to taking such shell; provided further, that
possession by any person, while in or on the waters of the State
of Florida, of conch meat or of any queen conch shell having an
off-center hole larger than 1/16 inch in diameter through its
spire shall constitute a violation of this chapter.
Again, note the "on the waters" proviso.
The problem with making and enforcing this regulation was the
intent of protecting the live animal while allowing the artifact
(the empty shell left by old age, disease, predators, etc) to be
collected.
Commercial meat operations can be identified by the drill hole.
But illegal commercial shell collectors will hang the shell to
avoid mutilating the shell, and are extremely difficult to
charge unless caught with the live or hanging animal. Possession
of a shell that has been hung, which has no drill hole, is still
a violation of the code!
So how do you tell an illegal commercially collected, hung shell
from one that was legally collected dead? That's the problem.
If the shell has an operculum, it is almost certainly an
illegally collected, hung shell. But not always. Occasionally
(rarely) the operc can be found in the octopus midden where the
shell is found, for example.
So, as a practical matter, possession is suspicion. Most of the
dive boats discourage taking fresh dead shells for that reason.
If you run into a fisheries cop, and you have a fresh dead S.g.,
expect a dirty look at the very least, and perhaps a very
thorough search of yer boat and documantation.
>
> I suspect that octopus and horse conch have always preyed on Strombus gigas.
> Blaming them as a contributing cause for the lack of the species recovery,
> while somewhat true, creates an inaccurate reference point to the impact of
> humans on the species.
Some of my best friends are octopus. I'm not blaming them for
anything. The fact is that the stocks of S.g. have been severely
depleted, while the stocks of octopus and horse conchs have not.
Neither octopus nor horse conchs really care that the
remaining S.g. are protected. What man started, they exacerbate.
m
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