Varieties of shells, placed in transparent glass vessels or in decorated pottery, are a pretty sight. One who frequents the beaches and shores of Oman, which extends for more than 3,000 km, can come across people who look for seashells.
We love to gather seashells and display them on our shelves in homes and offices without realising that the removal of shells from beaches could damage ecosystems and endanger organisms that rely on shells for their survival.
“Omanis, like others, love to collect seashells for design and decoration. But they must take measures to prevent its depletion," a specialist in the field of marine sciences told the Observer.
Some of these shells are sold in souvenir shops. It is sold in bottles, frames and vases of various shapes. Their prices vary according to the quality, sizes, shapes and scarcity. But the trade in seashell souvenirs is sometimes a threat to marine life.
According to experts, shells provide a diverse swath of environmental functions: they help to stabilise beaches and anchor seagrass; they provide homes for creatures such as hermit crabs and hiding places for small fish; they are used by shorebirds to build nests; and when they break down, they provide nutrients for the organisms and for those that build their own shells.
In the late nineteenth century, hundreds of thousands of tree snails were collected from the Hawaiian Islands, which led to the extinction of 22 species of them, and that there are 19 other species threatened with extinction, despite the ban imposed on collection from those areas now. Many maritime countries look forward to the possibility of banning the collection of these shells for commercial purposes.
Historical sources indicate that shells were used in prehistoric times in Africa and Asia as coins, and the Phoenicians and Romans extracted a scarlet dye from sea snails and believed that the cloth that was dyed with that dye was more expensive than gold.
“In fact, it is difficult to completely ban the collection of shells in some countries because the economy of those countries relies heavily on the export of pearls. Among these countries are those located on the coasts of the Indian Ocean. Therefore, those countries issued laws prohibiting the collection of shells of certain sizes," an expert said.
Shells are a source of income for people in some countries. If the shells become scarce, they will threaten the sources of livelihood for those who live on collecting them. Therefore, these countries encouraged the development of programmes that regulate these industries by closely following up the numbers of shells collected and the impact of collection on the numbers of mollusks in general.
TEXT & PHOTOS BY YAHYA AL SALMANI
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