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90% of the World's big game fish since 1980 are gone. Off the Northeast Atlantic Coast there is a barren ocean bottom the size of Saskatchewan due to bottom trawling. Coral is bleached all over the Caribbean due to climate change (by man?). Shops in Florida and other parts of the U.S. sell shells by the thousands, almost all which were commercially taken live. The same is said for many Caribbean countries, some which prohibit me from taking a handfull, but permit the locals to do it large scale commercially. I do understand that dive charters often prohibit collecting because it robs their area of stuff for divers to look at, which may affect business. Here in Canada nobody gives a hoot, because the shells are dull, and few people are interested anyway. I should have started diving 30 years ago when I was in my 20s and nobody cared anywhere. According to PADI, we are ambassadors for the ecology--"Take only picture, leave only bubbles." By not collecting shells, who exactly are we setting an example for-- the other 7 divers on the boat? A diver collecting a few shells is like a fisherman with a rod & reel-- as compared to a commercial fishing boat. He can also be compared to one guy smoking a cigarette outside, polluting the air, while how many cars and factories worldwide polute? Overcollecting of shells is pointless and wrong. Selling shells commercially is really wrong. Collecting a few for your personal collection? Put it in perspective, don't go way overboard on something like this, like we tend to do on a lot of subjects in today's world. Tom H