I forwarded several of the posts early in this thread to a non subscriber who recently expressed a real conflict in purchasing modern mollusks due to the question of 1. taking live animals and/or 2. encouraging taking of live animals by those supplying the market.
It is a very hard attitude to reverse when someone has labeled another's activities as wrong or worse, criminal.
Fossils were more of a focus to the person in question as those specimens were already dead (and extinct). I note that many fossils come from huge sites operated for the purposes of extracting some sort of commodity from the earth. Such actions regardless of how carefully carried out produce a very significant impact to the environment, one certainly more far reaching than shell collectors as a group ever have. I too collect fossils from such places. It is very generous of their operators to allow a group of fossil collectors onto their sites to glean specimens and in turn scientific knowledge from the exposed sediments. The conclusion is that no collecting activity goes without an impact. Man needs the products produced from the earth so we laud the owners of such sites for environmental awareness and restoration and critisize the shell collector poking around "in a vacant lot." &nbs p;
No matter what mankind does there will be an impact - even the photographer or sightseer leaves an impact more than foot prints on a natural site. The credo for resposnible shell collectors is leave the site as found.
John Timmerman
Wilmington, North Carolina
-------------- Original message from Peter Egerton <[log in to unmask]>: --------------
Tom,
Very well put indeed.
I think I'll save this email for other friends to read...especially anyone who objects to my hobby.
Peter--
Peter Egerton, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- - - - - - - Shell Collector & Website Designer - - - - - - - - - -
Portfolio Website: www.peteregerton.ca
Peter's Seashells Website: www .petersseashells.ca
Email: [log in to unmask] &nb sp;