COWRIE

The first MONEY was a white cowrie shells called "money cowries" and they were used all around the world.  According to Cynthia Barnett, they were used to buy human SLAVES!
 

STOP BUYING and COLLECTING SEA SHELLS - AVOID PURCHASING CRAFTS MADE OF SHELLS

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC - SEA SHELL COLLECTING and CRAFTS HARMING OCEAN SEALIFE ECOLOGY 

Excerpt: In the little coastal town of Kanyakumari, in southern India, mountains of newly harvested mollusk shells - living animals still inside them - lie drying out near a sun-drenched beach.  Next up for these seashells : a dunking for a few hours in large cats of oil and acid to clean them.  Any remaining flesh or scaly growth is then scraped off each shell by hand by one of hundreds of local o, and they're given another soaking in oil. After a final hand-polishing, many are shipped to artisans in nearby towns who craft jewelry and other memeotos to sell to tourists.  The remaining shells are destined for elsewhere in India and abroad.

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My opinion is if a shell or item that includes shells, such as shelled mirrors, has made it all the way to a charity thrift store, then OK, buy it, but there are so many ways to use draw, paint, mache, or use other techniques to image shells, buying ones that involved killing the animals inside, hurting the ocean n and sea creature ecology is wrong.

SPINEY

Shells that have just one part are called univalves such as the spiney murex above,

 

IS IT ETHICAL TO COLLECT SEA SHELLS? IMPACT TRAVEL ALLIANCE HAS AN OPINION

IMPACT TRAVEL ALLIANCE on ETHICAL SEA SHELL COLLECTING 

EXCERPT:  The idea of killing an animal just to display some of its body parts (much like trophy hunting) may sound disgusting, but many folks are willing to do just that to have a shell, a sand dollar, or a starfish on their shelf  It's not just immoral, it is illegal in Sanibel and Lee Couty (according to the laws about recreational sea shell harvesting in Florida) to "harvest or possess any shells that contain a live organism except for oysters, hard clams (quahogs), sunray venus clams and coquinas."

OYSTERS

Since Clams and Oysters are seemingly the most common shells, it seems there is no harm in collecting them.  However, I believe we should only collect the shells that have washed up on the beaches, brought in with the tides, because killing sea creatures is not cool. Taking living animals with shells is still effecting the ocean environment and ecology.
 

ANIMALOGIC PRESENTS A VIDEO ON SEALS

This video is informative and fun and I loved the art too : From Animalogic.  In a lifetime the most dominant Elephant Seal can sire 500 pups. But he sure does have to fight it out to do so. The females choose!?  They can hold their breath for a hundred minutes while the harbor seals can hold it for 30.  

THE MARINE MAMMAL PROTECTION ACT

MARINE MAMMAL PROTECTION ACT : FWS GOV 

PORTUGUESE MAN OF WAR THREATEN SPRING BREAK

 Daily Mail : Portuguese Man of War Spring Beak

Excerpt:  The Portuguese Man O War, which are related to jellyfish, are loaded with dangerous toxins for anything that happens to brush up against their tentacles.

CLAMS - BIVALVE

Bivalve means two part shells.

 

SARAH CRACKNELL : SEA SHELLS

ELEPHANT SEALS OF THE PIEDRAS BLANCAS MARINE ANIMAL SANCTUARY - REBOUNDED FROM NEAR EXTINCTION

This Marine Animal Sanctuary that is about six miles of California Pacific Ocean coastline is the only one in the world that is free and always open. 

FRIENDS OF THE ELEPHANT SEALS

The Elephant Seals were once, before the Endangered Species Act, thought to be down to about 30 animals as they were hunted for their blubber, their skin and coats not used for fashion.  However, the population is now estimated to be up to 250,000!

TIDES AND CURENTS MAP from NOAA

 Click on the map and get the tide predictions! TIDES and CURRENTS - NOAA GOV

WHAT DID WE CATCH?