Shell collectors ?

[Sam Miller III]

[QUOTE="boulderjohn, post: 8006798, member: 32540"
I don't know why, but I have never had the remotest interest in shell collecting.

A number of years ago my wife and I were on a beach in Grand Cayman, and a man showed up with some beautiful large conch shells his son had just collected, cleaned, and polished (whatever). He was planning to sell them. When I told him what the fine was for taking those shells, he quickly took them back to his car
.[/QUOTE]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How much was the fine?


SDM

 

[boulderjohn]

He was planning to sell them. When I told him what the fine was for taking those shells, he quickly took them back to his car
.

How much was the fine?


SDM

I don't remember--it was more than a decade ago. IIRC, I read about it in the travel literature I had for the trip. I just tried to look it up online, and in my brief search I was told it was illegal, but they said nothing about the fine itself.

One day when I was diving in Grand Cayman, one of the divers was pulling on his gloves, and the DM looked at him and said, "There's a $500,000 fine for wearing gloves in Grand Cayman." The diver laughed and continued pulling them on. The DM's voice got very stern as she said, "It's a $500,000 fine! Take them off!" He took them off.

From what I learned after that incident, I believe the law was that there was a potential for fines UP TO $500,000 for transgressions like wearing gloves or taking objects from the marine park. The dive operator took us for a night dive to a shallow site that featured an ancient anchor. He explained that it as an anchor from the wreck of the ten sail, but it was out of place. It seems some divers had pulled it from its correct location and were captured driving with it in a pickup truck. Not knowing where it really belonged, they had put it at that site. I imagine the fine for the people who had pulled up the anchor was in the upper range of that $500,000 potential.

 

[Birddog1911]

I've taken empty shells, where permitted, as well as what we find on the shore. My wife likes to collect them. But, don't have even the slightest education about them, like some of the folks here!

 

[maj2]

I have already posted re my tun shell from Bermuda.

Possibly my most interesting (and cutest!) shell is a 2 inch conch that I found amongst some fill in the driveway leading to Umbrella's Beach Bar in Grenada a couple of years ago. No diving involved. No beachcombing involved. Just a watchful walk up the driveway. It is tiny (for a conch), but clearly a conch! I scooped it up since it was already dead and empty and eventually was just going to be crushed as cars drove over it. You never know when you will find an interesting shell!

Most of my beach finds were from Mexico. Specifically, Kantenah Bay, walking North from the El Dorado AI resort back in the late 1990s. This is before most development in the area, and definitely before the current highway was built. There was a small Mayan ruin on the shore, and a ton of shells to collect. I brought home a bunch of sea fans, and a West Indian Topsnail shell that were all beach finds. Upon coming back to Canada, I reported them at the time and had no issues (beach finds, not live collected, etc.).


This thread is screaming for some images from collectors! Will try and post some later...

 

[TMHeimer]

Yes, I'd be very interested in seeing that small conch you found on the driveway. I've never mentioned shells when crossing back into Canada (or U.S.). Back in 2012 Can. Customs looked through my catch of Southern Drill Shells found in Miss. I think she just found them by accident. Seemed she knew nothing about what is or isn't allowed into Canada (ie. what's on the Cites list). I do believe the rule is about not taking in endangered shells as opposed to whether collected live or not--obviously there is no proof of that either way. I've never been asked about shells. Once we were coming back across from FL into Manitoba during a snowstorm and out of the blue she asked "Do you have any cactus?" We said no, we were in Florida, not Arizona. We were in our RV then and DID have a small cactus that I dug up hidden in a big plastic "big gulp" cup (what are the chances?). It's a BIG Prickly Pear cactus now...You never know what to expect, so definitely don't volunteer any information about shells or anything else.
My guess would be that they are more interested in shells that may have meat in them, but you wouldn't want to be travelling with that anyway...

 

[Sam Miller III]

Possibly my most interesting (and cutest!) shell is a 2 inch conch that I found amongst some fill in the driveway leading to Umbrella's Beach Bar in Grenada a couple of years ago. No diving involved. No beachcombing involved. Just a watchful walk up the driveway. It is tiny (for a conch), but clearly a conch! I scooped it up since it was already dead and empty and eventually was just going to be crushed as cars drove over it. You never know when you will find an interesting shell!
...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So true ! Like an Easter egg hunt...or as Forrest once so aply stated "Ya never know what you will get when you eat a box of chocolates"

There are basically five Conches in the tropics
1) Queen Conch
2) Milk Conch
3) Roos tail Conch
4) fighting Conch
6) Hawk winged Conch

It would be interesting to discover what kind of conch you found

SDM

 

[TMHeimer]

Yeah, I've managed to get all of those except the Rooster (found part of one in Panama), and my Milk was taken dead and not very attractive. Don't forget the Fighting Conch may be either the Florida or West Indian kind.

 

[maj2]

Here are a few. I included the tun that we found diving in Bermuda. Otherwise, there is a photo of the small conch found in a driveway in Grenada, as well as the same small conch beside my largest Queen conch shell. All have a tape measure included for better size reference.

 

[Sam Miller III]

That certainly is a juvenile queen conch !
What a find ! What a treasure ! And found in a drive way...

Thanks so much for posting, your shells and effort is appreciated
SAM

 

[maj2]

That certainly is a juvenile queen conch !
What a find ! What a treasure ! And found in a drive way...

Thanks so much for posting, your shells and effort is appreciated
SAM

Thanks for confirming!
It is probably the most juvenile that I have ever seen! Certainly far smaller than anything I have usually seen called "juvenile" in terms of a queen conch.
I just love the little thing... Couldn't believe it when I saw it. My wife and daughter were hungry and wanting to get to the restaurant at the end of the driveway, and were a bit perturbed that I was poking around and picking stuff out of the driveway gravel. I am so glad that I wasted a bit of their time that evening!