THE QUEEN CONCH SHELL IS ENDANGERED : ETHICAL SEA SHELL COLLECTING

First, if the place you see the shell is a RESERVE, take photos but leave it on the beach. Even if it is not, it's best not to collect shells.

Second, DO NOT BUY SEA SHELLS FROM SHOPS. Often these shells have been obtained through dredging the sea bottom, upsetting the natural ecology.

Third, TRADE OR BUY ONLY THOSE SHELLS THAT HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY COLLECTED.

Fourth, Keep in mind that scientific sea shell collecting includes the date and place the shell was found and an accounting of the collection. This is data that may be useful to science. (You might tie it to weather research as well.)

Fifth, DO BEACH CLEAN UP INSTEAD. It's frustrating to have to clean up by other people who leave refuse on the beaches, to see broken plastic. Do it anyway.

 

SWIRL

 

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.

UNIVALVE

Do not buy sea shells or sea shell products. 

The marine animals who grow shells for self protection

 are also part of a marine ecosystem.

I know the temptation.

 

LEAVE IT ON THE BEACH

 

SCALLOP

 

SCALLOP

 

CONCH

 

A SEA SHELL IS MADE BY A LIVING ANIMAL

 

THREE TYPES OF OYSTERS

 

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.

***

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."