WIthin the last two years I had one taken by USFW in Miami, from a
fairly "new" dealer in Brazil. (They were mainly a seafood
distributor, but also got nice shells with latin names and data
)...First time that has happened to me in 45+ years of buying and
trading. As best as I can tell, the only thing different about this
package than all the others was the dealer had a weird business model-
on their shipping forms they insisted local law dictated them listing
the prices paid for each shell, rather than the customary "Shells for
Scientific Study - No commerical Value". That could have done it. Or
it could be totally random.
We knew nothing other than there had been no sign of the package for 2
months, odd as it had been sent by air, and the dealer had no idea
what was wrong and said it cleared Brazilian customs (which was quite
strict they said) very fast.... sometime later I got a telephone
message from a USFWS inspector telling me I had a package of
seashells that was in the possession of USFW in Miami, and giving his
phone number (a good reason to supply your email/phone number or other
contact info to the dealers before they ship; some will ask for it
beforehand).
I had multiple phone calls and emails back from the inspector, and
could find out about him by doing an internet search. Indeed, as he
stated, he'd been at this a very long time (his employee ID number was
in the single digits, meaning he'd been one of the first hired, and
there were lots of news stories about him online, all with stuff like
mammals and birds and snakes)...but in the end he admitted he had no
idea what these little seashells were about (most were quite small,
there was one big Cymatium ,the BIG Brazilian one) , but other than
that nothing more than two or three inches and he professed
ignorance with shells and finally after all my please that he needed
to ask around, eg with supervisors. After more phone calls and emails,
he admitted he got nowhere and really didnt know what was going on.Up
to that point i had repeatedly told him there were no CITES species
(it may have said that in the shipping papers) and that I was a
private collector and ultimately these specimens were destined for a
specific museum (which I named, for what that was worth), all of which
was true.
I told the dealer about this while it was going on, and they were
supportive, but I dont recall them actually having any contact with
the customs inspector directly, although they may have vouched for
there being no CITES species in one of the emails back and forth which
i forwarded to the inspector- I was careful about what i forwarded to
him, and what i didnt, e.g. in discussions with the dealer of the
friend who had ordered and paid for the Cymatium).
. After much back and forth I had said all I could say, and resigned
myself to the fact that I would never see these shells.
To my surprise I eventually got an email or voicemail back from the
inspector, saying in the end they had concluded there was no basis to
think there was any violation of anything and that he had released the
shells for shipment. He pretty much said nobody really knew of any
restrictions on shells and i never really knew why they held
it.....The shells eventually arrived, the box was beat up and it was
clear- as he had noted- that they had opened some of the shells for
inspection, but left most of them alone feeling quite silly that they
were all so small and nondescript why anybody would be interested (he
sort of said that at one point).
SO I would say get in touch with the inspector if you can (I hope
they provided you with contact information) and try to reason with
them, mention again there are no CITES species, no coral etc..
If that fails, and if you contact me offline I may be able to find an
email or search the internet again for the specific inspector's name,
if nothing else you can say to whomever has your shells that you know
of an inspector in Miami who has experience with this, give them his
contact info, and maybe he can persuade them if all else fails?
Steve
On 1/19/21, William Bennight <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> HELP!!! I have had two packages from the Indonesia area seized by Fish &
> Wildlife. This is by one officer and I don’t think she knows what she is
> doing. Am I doing something wrong or am I just dealing with someone who is
> wrong in her interpretation of the law? Any help would be deeply
> appreciated. There is nothing in these packages, that I’m aware of, that is
> listed on CITES or should be illegal to bring through the mail. Is there
> someone out there that knows what is going on? Any guidance? You can reply
> thru CONCH-L because I think this is something a lot of collectors would
> like the answer to.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Jan 17, 2021, at 10:28 PM, Bert Bartleson <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> It seems that Google is making a lot of changes recently, without warning,
>> or much reason (other than selling something to someone).
>>
>> Here are two recent shell related examples: 1). Google removed Shell
>> Collector Management Program from my computer and all back-up files that I
>> have been using to manage my shell collection for the past 10 years. I
>> lost five years of data and it will take me about 100 hours to re-enter
>> the data from my collection that was erased. I also had to pay my local
>> geek $100.00 to reinstall my program because Google wiped all traces of it
>> out of my computer. No warning was given before it happened.
>> 2) Google recently changed my search box to not keep recent searches
>> active for use the next day. Now I get content like “Wouldn’t you like to
>> know the recent Powerball numbers?’ No, I don’t play. But they also took
>> out the little “X’s” so you can’t get rid of the searches that you aren’t
>> interested in and they keep reappearing.
>>
>> I’d love to bill Google for my time and trouble but I’m sure there’s
>> nobody that would care or listen. I’m considering changing search engines
>> and uninstalling Google.
>>
>> Bert Bartleson, WA
>>
>> From: Conchologists List <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Karlynn
>> Morgan
>> Sent: Sunday, January 17, 2021 4:17 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: [CONCH-L] COA Website
>>
>> Tonight I have had a second inquiry this week from someone who could not
>> find the COA website while using Google to search for it. Google has many
>> other organizations that can come from "COA" and somehow searching for
>> "Conchologists of America" may bring up our old website or only the
>> convention page.
>> Here is the correct URL for the main page of the COA website:
>>
>> https://conchologistsofamerica.org/
>>
>> Please make a note of this URL and use it in going to our website.
>>
>> Karlynn Morgan
>> COA Webpage Co-ordinator
>>
>>
>>
>>
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