Do Beaches Need Seashells?

West vacation. Queen counk's are marine snails who live in gorgeous shells of their own making. Florida allows people to collect the vacant shells, but it's illegal to take one that's still occupied by a live conk. The shells that the aforementioned Texan took had living, breathing mollusks in them.

Florida has a vested interest in these nautical treasures. On the shell loaded island of Santabelle, a barrier community near Fort Myers beachcombing is a major draw for tourists, and when residents noticed their precious commodity were vanishing, they took action. In the late twentieth century, locals started worrying that out

of towners were pillaging too many shells. As a conservation measure, Santabell banned the collection of any shells with their original mollusks still living inside, as well as any sand dollars, starfish, and sea urchins. The band took effect in and has since been extended throughout Santabell's home county. If you've noticed sea shell depletion on the beaches you visit, know that it's not just a matter of light fingered vacationers. Organized

poaching has become a serious global concern. We spoke via email with Vincent Nyman, an anthropology professor at Oxford Brooks University in the United Kingdom. In a study he co authored, Nyman documented the illegal trade of Indonesia's protected shells. The Indonesian government keeps a list of mollusks that are legal to trade or collect within the republic's jurisdiction. Chambered nautilus's, triton's trumpets, and some giant clams are among the creatures

ostensibly protected by law. There Yet, poaching is rampant. Nyman's paper tells of twenty illegal shipments that were intercepted by the Indonesian authorities between two thousand eight and put together, these busts yielded more than forty two thousand shells of

protected species, valued at seven hundred thousand dollars. Niman said, it's very important to note that we're not talking about individual tourists collecting a couple of shells on the beach, putting them in their suit case in bringing them home. We're talking about a large scale commercial trade where the shells are collected by active fishing, scuba diving cages, et cetera, and where entire sections of the ocean floor are emptied. He stresses the poachers like to grab occupied shells and

then destroy the animals within them. He explained that when the animals are alive, their shells are usually an excellent condition, as opposed to shells that have been discarded and washed up on the beach, which are often damaged. Mosques aren't the only animals who have been hurt by the reckless over hunting of seashells. When stales, nautiluses and other sea animals die of natural causes other creatures like to move

into their former shell homes. We also spoke via email with my Koluski, an ecologist at the University of Florida. He said the most obvious examples are hermit crabs, which use empty shells as protective armor. There are, in fact, many marine habitats where it's hard to find an empty shell because hermit crabs in habit almost all of them. When there aren't enough shells to go around, hermit crab populations are curved, and housing is just one service that

unused shells offer. Some sea creatures and birds eat them for mineral supplements like calcium carbonate. Others use the sturdy shells as anchors from other mollusks to barnacles and many more. The harvest of these shells isn't just bad for the local ecosystem, it's also bad for the environment and ultimately for the humans who live and visit there. Take Yarga Beach, a lovely slice of the Iberian Peninsula loocated in Slow Spain.

It's a hot vacation destination that's enjoyed increasing popularity. Wanting to know more about how this rise in human activity was affecting the ecosystem, Koluski rolled up his sleeves and hit the scene. From July nineteen seventy eight through July one, he and his colleagues put together monthly catalogs of all

the seashell material they could find on Yarga Beach. Kaluski returned decades later for a new round of surveys, beginning in two thousand eight and ending his discoveries weren't encouraging tourism. Data revealed an almost threefold increase in visitation between nineteen During that same period, the number of seashells on Yarga

Beach fell by more than six coincidence probably not. Other beach side communities should be worried about the same kind of decline in seashells, and not just for environmental reasons. Shells tend to break up into particles that are bigger than typical sand grains. These shell fragments help beaches fight erosion by locking up, making it harder for winds, waves,

and water currents to move shoreline sediment around. If we remove too many seashells, it will become harder for our beaches to resist the forces of erosion, and that could affect shore side buildings, roads and other infrastructure. So what's the solution? Nyman notes, in many countries there are excellent laws in placed prevent over harvesting. Companies and individuals should follow the existing regulations and the authorities should enforce them.

It is an economic crime and should be handled as such. He added, the prosecutors and judges must take large scale poaching operations more seriously. Today's episode was written by Mark Mancini, whose name I've been mispronouncing for about two years now, and it was produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more in this and lots of other multidisciplinary topics, visit our

home planet, how stuff Works dot com. And for more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.