Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]> Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 22:16:24 -0400 From: Bobbi Cordy <[log in to unmask]> Reply-To: [log in to unmask] Organization: Shell Creations X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01C-KIT (Win95; U) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Conch-L <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Strombus Gigas Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Unfortunately...once a protection is put on an animal you will never get it off....We saw that happen in Calif. The sea otters are protected in California. They are now over run by sea otters and they are wiping out the abalone (which they love to eat)...hence nature is out of balance. Also the gators in Florida that are protected....are taking over the State. Gators are having to be captured and killed all the time because they are taking over neighborhoods. They have a yearly gator kill here to help keep the population down. They should have a Strombus Gigas season and size limit?? Unfortunately those of us on the field never get asked about any of this. Only people who fish get asked about the shell thing! Most of the fish people do not know one shell from another! Tucker used to say "the one's who know about shells are those who are in the water with them all the time". He constantly used our shell club members as a great resource for his information in books but he knew we were the one's who knew. When we go to the Bahamas....we see piles and piles of dead S gigas both on the land and in the water. We also see a lot of live ones although the Bahamians have been bringing in hundreds of these shells every day for hundreds of years???? Go figure! -- Jim & Bobbi Cordy Specializing in Self-Collected Caribbean & Florida Shells