I collected sea shells at one time, and then stopped because I didn't want to contribute to the needless destruction of our ocean - no matter how small my part was. I started collecting back in the late 70's while stationed at Kadena AB, Okinawa Japan. Many of my fellow divers were collectors - lots of them actually. I once brought up a very rare cone shell, I was offered hundreds of dollars for it by collectors - including Triton's Trumpet and "secret" locations of lots of Triton's Trumpet. I never sold it because it was not about the money, but about what I found. That shell is still in my collection reminding me of how I have helped in the destruction of those reefs in Okinawa. I will never collect again - period.
Two incidents helped me change my mind. The first was an incident involving Triton's Trumpet and Crown of Thorns. A call was given out from our dive club, the Okinawa Reef Rovers to gather at a reef that was in danger from Crown of Thorns. You see the collection of Triton's Trumpet was so popular that there were not enough natural predators of the Crown of Thorns left, and they breed and multiply fast. The reef was completely saturated with them. So the Air Force and Marine personnel gathered on a Friday afternoon and we began diving until late Sunday afternoon. Our mission was to destroy Crown of Thorns. You can just kill them and cutting them wont work - you have to remove them from the ocean. We used a small fleet of aluminum row boats that each group would drag around with them. We made special swords that had Clorox bottles cut in half to protect our hands. We skewered the Crown of Thorns for hours, from sun up to sundown. We fill those little boats and emptied them over and over, there was a huge smelly pile of dead rotting Crown of Thorns when we were done. We got a bulldozer and loaded them in a huge dump truck and gave the it all to local farmers for fertilizer.
The last I heard about that reef was that it was not doing very well from the Crown of Thorns. They multiply too fast to eradicate them after their population is out of control. Much like the grass roots campaign to eradicate the Lion Fish from the Atlantic, it's better to be proactive than reactive when it's too late.
The second incident involved 3 spear fishermen on the Vision in the Channel Is. I too was a spear fishermen, taking one or two to eat once in a while. But on this trip, that changed. There were those 3, dressed in commercial looking dry suits taking as many fish as each could shoot every dive for three days. They took at least 10 each for 4 dives each day. They were professionals, in the way one took care of the gear, one filleted and one packaged the fish. So that was at least 30 fish a dive times 4 dives for 4 days. No where near what one fishing boat does in a few hours out on Monterey Bay, but it was enough to convince me to leave my spear gun in the holder for the entire trip. Later at home I cut it up into small pieces.
I'm not saying everyone should stop taking game, but just have some sanity about it. I am certain those three went over their limits and the crew said nothing. So be it, I won't take any and others will stand by me. And others will continue to take - that's your choice as long as it is permitted and the fish remain. Abalone, salmon or trout are examples of those that are endangered from a take all you want attitude - the ocean has an endless supply doesn't it?
I hope you find hundreds of Triton's Trumpet where you go on your trip. Though I doubt it, because your not the only one in this ocean taking them.
Maybe you should take up photography and see them forever on your wall in their natural environment. I can understand where your coming from, I did collect them once. The shell I took that was very rare was the Conus aulicus - the Courtly Cone. I wish I never had taken it - though I never took a Triton's Trumpet, because even then I new that they protected our reefs from the Crown of Thorns that I and others tried to eradicate, and failed.
A triton's trumpet (Charonia tritonis) attacking a crown-of-thorns starfish, and thus saving the coral reef from one of its most notorious pests. This photo was taken in Australia. (courtesy of Tellus Consultants)
