Shell harvester jailed

[GreyhoundsAreFast]

Not sire what she was going to do with all them... but can anyone clarify why this is a protected species? At least its Pacific cousins aren’t in short supply and hasty googling seems to indicate that it’s not a threatened species.

 

[Wookie]

Not sire what she was going to do with all them... but can anyone clarify why this is a protected species? At least its Pacific cousins aren’t in short supply and hasty googling seems to indicate that it’s not a threatened species.

Overfishing. They need 130 individuals per acre to sucessfully spawn. There are about 3 places in the Caribbean left where they can do that. There are places in the keys that have spawning populations, but they would be decimated pretty quickly if they were harvested.

 

[PFul07]

Pleases enlighten this non-Floridian.

You describe finding the conchs while diving. According to how I understand the story, she collected living conchs on the beach. I have never seen a living conch on a beach anywhere. Is that a routine possibility in that area?

In the 80's I used to visit with a friend of mine to Panama City (where he grew up) and you could wade in shallow water flats to find these same conch. Even the larger ones. It was never against the law to harvest "empty ones" as I believe it is still not the law, but you had to have a license even back then to harvest live ones and then when in season. Just no sure of the laws today, but apparently, ignorance doesn't prevent you from going to jail! Good job FWC!

 

[TheGraveyardDiver]

Law of collecting conch. When you collect one to eat (illegal in the USA) you knock a hole in it's spiral that allows you to extract the muscle. If you collect one with a hole, it was likely poached.

Quite false. It is not "illegal in the USA". That is STATE law.
Conchs are perfectly legal to take here in NC, and there is no minimum size limit. The limit in NC is 10 per day/20 per vessel.

 

[RyanT]

Quite false. It is not "illegal in the USA". That is STATE law. Conchs are perfectly legal to take here in NC, and there is no minimum size limit. The limit in NC is 10 per day/20 per vessel.

Depends on the species, you won't find queen conchs (Strombus gigas) in NC. On the east coast, whelks are also commonly referred to as "conchs."

 

[Jeff Godfrey]

Pleases enlighten this non-Floridian.

Read a few Carl Hiaasen books and you will find enlightenment.

 

[SapphireMind]

I discourage shell collecting anyway. Damaged shells can be used by other animals and provide minerals and materials back to the ocean. In any national park, it is illegal to collect shells and rocks.

I collect sea glass now. It is legal to collect on every beach except dedicated sea glass beaches (where the sea glass is the reason the beach is being protected, and personally I wouldn't see the point of trying to collect there - it's like shooting fish in a barrel, the whole point is looking for the glass!) Sea glass is human trash and can't be used by the animals. I try to keep one bag for glass, another bag for other trash. The only thing I'm bad about with it is that if a piece of glass isn't done weathering, I will leave it or throw it back, instead of putting it immediately into recycling

Beach Tourists Who Collect Shells May Be Harming the Environment | Science | Smithsonian