shops54 Posted January 23, 2010 #1 Share Posted January 23, 2010 I heard there was a particular island that had great conch shell picking. Does anyone know where it is? And is it legal to bring them back? TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toto2Kansas Posted January 23, 2010 #2 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Many of the islands frown on you finding them yourself. Although they are for sale in most islands. I will never forget a tour in Dominica where our tour guide saw snorkelers (not with our group) bringing up conch shells and putting them in their bags. The tour guide was screaming at them to put those back, they were not allowed to remove them from the ocean. Not sure if this was the tour guide's rules or the islands. ;) Same thing happened on a snorkeling tour in Mexico. The tour guide saw some in our group collecting tons of shells, and once back on the catarman, he made them throw them all back into the ocean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna5 Posted January 23, 2010 #3 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Many of the islands frown on you finding them yourself. Although they are for sale in most islands. I will never forget a tour in Dominica where our tour guide saw snorkelers (not with our group) bringing up conch shells and putting them in their bags. The tour guide was screaming at them to put those back, they were not allowed to remove them from the ocean. Not sure if this was the tour guide's rules or the islands. ;) Anymore most of the islands frown on taking anything from the ocean. A lot of them also have designated marine preserves. I know from past dives on some island your dive prices incuded the marine preserve license fee. This is also one of the reasons that some dive outfits do not allow dive knives. They are also not letting you wear dive gloves on a lot of the dives too, I guess they figure if people don't have gloves on they won't be grabbing at things. If the islands coast guard or whatever they call their enforcers of their marine rules or laws come to the boat and find you in violation you will be fined and their is a possiblilty that the boat operator can be fined. So it is important to check the laws of where you will be and then also check the U.S. Govt. pages to find what you are allowed to bring in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colo Cruiser Posted January 23, 2010 #4 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Even though you will see vendors all over with tables of them... I agree, not a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britsbest Posted January 23, 2010 #5 Share Posted January 23, 2010 http://www.cites.org/eng/news/press/2003/031001_queen_conch.shtml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S&M in Pgh Posted January 23, 2010 #6 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Conch shells that are still in the water will likely still have a live conch in them. When you pull them out of the water, the conch will retreat to the back end of the shell and die there. About 4 hours later, it will begin to stink to high heaven. Shells on the beach are usually vacant or have an already dead conch in them. From what I have seen, conch are not easy to remove from the shell with out damaging the shell. Do you really want a stinky shell laying around your room for a few days before putting it in your luggage? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billet Posted January 23, 2010 #7 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Conch shells that are still in the water will likely still have a live conch in them. When you pull them out of the water, the conch will retreat to the back end of the shell and die there. About 4 hours later, it will begin to stink to high heaven. Shells on the beach are usually vacant or have an already dead conch in them. From what I have seen, conch are not easy to remove from the shell with out damaging the shell. Do you really want a stinky shell laying around your room for a few days before putting it in your luggage? Mike As a boy in bermuda I used to dive up conch shells, tiethem on the washing line until the shell separated from the conch, dip them in bleach and leave them in the sun to dry. When they were nice and white I would sell them to the tourists. I know a lot ofthem still had some conch and they do stink to high heaven after a day or two. On the Crown last year passengers returning with conch shells were being told to return them or leave them with security to return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachseeker Posted January 24, 2010 #8 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Grand Turk has lots and lots of conch shells washed up on shore with no live creatures. Some looked very old, but many looked in good shape. When you get off the boat and are facing the beach walk to your right past all the loungers. There is a long, long, gorgeous stretch of beach. After about 20 minutes, I had the beach to myself. I walked for about 45 minutes and still had a huge stretch of beach left. We picked the Ruby next Thanksgiving so we can go back to Grand Turk. I love a gorgeous, isolated beach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbbyGirl Posted January 24, 2010 #9 Share Posted January 24, 2010 The last three cruises I've been on, the security guys on the ships confiscate them. It is illegal to bring them on the ship (similar to the fruit policy) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackdiamond Posted January 24, 2010 #10 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Not quite conch shells and not easy to do on a cruise but a few years ago we caught lightening whelks and moon snails in Florida. To remove the creature we boiled them. One was not removed properly and the luggage at the airport stunk to high heaven. That is also now illegal in Florida. The minimum fine is $50.00, per shell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m steve Posted January 24, 2010 #11 Share Posted January 24, 2010 I bought a queen conch shell froma boatman in St. Lucia and had no problem bringing it home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G'ma Posted January 24, 2010 #12 Share Posted January 24, 2010 The law has recently changed. See the link in Post #5 by britsbest.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeBeGone Posted January 24, 2010 #13 Share Posted January 24, 2010 That is also now illegal in Florida. The minimum fine is $50.00, per shell. It is illegal to harvest conch in FLORIDA waters. It is NOT illegal to bring shells back from any Caribbean island. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeBeGone Posted January 24, 2010 #14 Share Posted January 24, 2010 The last three cruises I've been on, the security guys on the ships confiscate them. It is illegal to bring them on the ship (similar to the fruit policy) In our 12 Caribbean cruises, we have NEVER had any shells, of any kind, confiscated by ship security. They just look to make sure there is no animal in it. It is NOT illegal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeBeGone Posted January 24, 2010 #15 Share Posted January 24, 2010 The law has recently changed. See the link in Post #5 by britsbest.... The post quotes an article written in 2003. This is not current law. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aligator6182 Posted January 24, 2010 #16 Share Posted January 24, 2010 in antigua there is a sign at check in at the airport about it being illegal and will take it right out of your luggage if it is scanned. we saw a whole bunch when we were snorkeling there. didn't take any out of the water but husband flipped one over and the conch started coming out towards him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britsbest Posted January 24, 2010 #17 Share Posted January 24, 2010 The post quotes an article written in 2003. This is not current law. I regret to advise that the current law IS as in my initial post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britsbest Posted January 24, 2010 #18 Share Posted January 24, 2010 In our 12 Caribbean cruises, we have NEVER had any shells, of any kind, confiscated by ship security. They just look to make sure there is no animal in it. It is NOT illegal. It is NOT a matter for the ships staff, but national frontier controls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britsbest Posted January 24, 2010 #19 Share Posted January 24, 2010 It is illegal to harvest conch in FLORIDA waters. It is NOT illegal to bring shells back from any Caribbean island. Just do the research Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gawyldcat Posted January 25, 2010 #20 Share Posted January 25, 2010 The last three cruises I've been on, the security guys on the ships confiscate them. It is illegal to bring them on the ship (similar to the fruit policy) My nine year old daughter and I spent several hours picking up a bunch of shells in Grand Turk on our February cruise in 2009. Unfortunately, the ship would not let us bring them on board. Big signs everywhere. DD was crying when she had to throw them back into the water. Biggest shells she has ever found. I wrote on the comment card that they needed to put the "No shell policy" in the Princess Patters so that people understand the rules ahead of time. It killed me to see her so unhappy on our vacation...even if it was short lived. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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