THE LIFE AND LOVE OF THE SEA by LEWIS BLACKWELL : FANTASTIC PHOTOGRAPHY

 

Fantastic photography and important text, Lewis Blackwell is the photographer.

Loved this book!

LEAVE THAT SHELL ON THE BEACH AND TAKE A PHOTO INSTEAD : ETHICAL SEA SHELL COLLECTING

Ethical sea shell collecting means:

Leaving any shell that has a living animal alone.

And you may not be able to tell so leave it alone.

Even broken and partial shells are part of the ecosystem.

Some sea creatures will borrow the empty shell of another.

Small fish hide in shells.

Do not buy sea shells by the bag in shops: They have been dredged from the ocean floor which destroys an eco-system. 

It's best not to buy sea shells at all.  You may find some collections for sale or find shells at garage sales and thrift shops, which were found or purchased in the past...

Do not buy plastic reproductions of shells.  Plastic is an overall problem for our environment.

Consider: 

Taking photos of shells to document them.

Draw, paint, or sculpt sea shells.

Pick up sea-polished glass off the beach instead. 

Take anything you bring to the beach back out, recycling bottles and cans and anything else you can.

Join a beach clean-up team for a morning or take some bags with you and fill them up with refuse that other people left behind.

Siren.

TIDE POOLS

 

SEAGULL

READ THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA's GUIDE TO SEA LEVEL RISE : YES IT IS OVER A HUNDRED PAGES from CALIFORNIA OCEAN PROTECTION COUNCIL

OPC CAL GOV : SEA RISE GUIDE 2024 

What difference does a foot or two make?  Well, the pounding surf, the incoming tide, wipes away the beaches and seacliffs as we know them to be, and my concern goes beyond the destruction of real estate.  These changes are natural processes but climate change may be happening rapidly and with it the destruction of our ecosystems.

HOW BAD WILL THE SEA LEVEL RISE BE FOR CALIFORNIA? SURFRIDER FOUNDATION RELEASES ANNUAL REPORT ON BEACHES

SURFRIDER ANNUAL REPORT  Not just the Pacific or California...  but California got an 'A'.

Go to the FULL REPORT.  Washington state improved. Florida and New Jersey got worse.

Go to the GUIDE to see what change you can make.

***

Remember that the BEACH ecology impacts the OCEAN and EVERY MARINE ANIMAL IN IT!

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS TO BE PART OF THE ACTIVISM TO RESPECT OUR MARINE ECOSYSTEM - SEA LIFE and BEACHES

1) I do not take sea creatures including shells from the tide pools. I can take pictures of them with my camera.

2) When I go to the beach, anything I take with me, I bring back out. I don't leave any garbage there.

3)  While I'm at the beach, I can take a bag and fill it with refuse that has washed up and throw it away properly.

4) I do whatever possible to recycle all things that are not organics.  I will check with my city to see where I can take things like old cell phones and electronics, batteries, nail polish, paint, plastics, and other items.

5) I will investigate what nonprofits and other organizations are involved in my area with preserving or reestablishing the marine ecosystem. I can support them through money donations or by volunteering.  (Beach clean ups can be a great way to meet like minded people.)

6) I will choose one sea creature and learn everything I can about it this year.

7) I will not buy sea shells from shops nor items made with them because dredging for shells is ruining the ecosystem too.

8) I will consider where any sea food I eat is sourced and avoid eating any seafood that comes from Chinese or other countries where ships use Forced Labor (Labor trafficking or slavery.)

INLET

 

HEAL THE BAY BEACH CLEAN UPS include NOTHIN BUT SAND and SUITS ON THE SAND

HEAL THE BAY BEACH CLEAN UPS 

It's more fun to clean the beach with a group - more like-minded people to meet.  

But if you take away everything you took in every time, you are an ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST!

If you're reading this post from some other part of the United States or the world, check the Internet to find your closest beach, lake, or river clean up.

TIDE POOLS are SEABED HABITATS

Seabed habitats has a seminar series.  Learn more about this important and essential aspect of the oceans - the tidepools that are near beaches and seacliffs, many of which have been wiped out in port and marina building. 

SEABED HABITATS - SEMINAR SERIES

BEACH ECOLOGY IS OCEAN ECOLOGY!

 BEACH ECOLOGY IS OCEAN ECOLOGY!

Remember to take home anything you brought with you - towels, flip flops, food, cans.. sunscreen and tanning oils... because if you leave it on the beach it's probably going to end up in the ocean and endanger the natural environment of the ocean, lake, or river.

But also remember to leave what belongs to nature - the earth - right where it is.  Do not take sea creatures from tidepools!

Just take photos!

WAVE RUSH : MAX HINTON

LOS CORONAS - MAREMOTO

WHAT IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO FOR THE CREATURES OF THE SEA ?

RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE


PLEASE ! When you throw garbage on the street, it gets washed into a gutter, and the gutter takes it to a river, and the river takes to the sea...  By putting trash - especially PLASTICS into the right garbage bin - or taking your cans and bottles in for the deposit return - and taking all the things you brought to the beach back home with you - YOU ARE A CITIZEN ENVIRONMENTALIST!

SURF BAND THE VENTURES - ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

 
Recorded 250 albums... 

ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTION CIRCA 2008

PERFIDIA : THE VENTURES

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!
 

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.