[Nhcoll-l] childhood collecting and taxonomy

[Shoobs, Nate]

Hi Catherine,
I do sympathize that requiring permits to pick up animals, especially dead, empty mollusk shells, can be stifling. In most cases removing shells has a minimal impact on the environment (though not no impact, as they are important sources of calcium and shelter for other freshwater invertebrates like snails, crayfish, and insect larvae).
To give some perspective from another state – the collecting laws surrounding mussels are even stricter here in Ohio, where it is not legal for any person, child or adult, to even touch the dead shell of a mussel, unless they have passed a state identification test administered here at the museum and hold a scientific collector’s permit. In fact, in OH, it is illegal for any person to touch or collect ANY native mollusk, alive or dead, without a permit. These laws are rarely, if ever, been enforced to criminalize amateur naturalists, especially not children. They have however been successfully used to prosecute poaching for the cultured pearl industry.
In my opinion, requiring a fishing license for 16-18 year olds to collect shells is not an especially restrictive requirement. If someone in their late teens is a serious amateur naturalist, they’d probably already have one, no? In addition to funding conservation efforts in the state, holding a fishing license could encourage the teens to become interested in a broader range of freshwater taxa like fish and crayfish.
I’d say requiring a formal application for a scientific collecting permit like we do in OH is restrictive and really discourages amateurs, and I’ve actually advocated recently for a change in OH’s policy to make the collection of dead shells of land and freshwater snails possible without a permit, in order to get better distributional information on species in the state from the public. I think in ALL cases, if a member of the public collects something already dead and submits it to a public natural history collection, it should be considered a good faith effort and not a crime. But unfortunately this is not the case at present in many places. Then again, these laws as far as I know are mainly (exclusively?) used to go after people who are poaching.
-Nate
--
[The Ohio State University]
Nathaniel F. Shoobs
Curator of Mollusks
College of Arts & Sciences Dept. of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology
Museum of Biological Diversity, 1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212
614-688-1342 (Office)
mbd.osu.edu<http://mbd.osu.edu>

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Callomon,Paul <prc44 at drexel.edu>
Date: Wednesday, October 25, 2023 at 12:56 PM
To: Catherine Early (she/her) <cearly at smm.org>, nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] childhood collecting and taxonomy
You might take a look at The Sound of the Sea: https: //bookshop. org/p/books/the-sound-of-the-sea-seashells-and-the-fate-of-the-oceans-cynthia-barnett/15252500?ean=9780393651447&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww. cynthiabarnett. net%2F&source=IndieBound&title=The+Sound+of+the+Sea%3A+Seashells+and+the+Fate+of+the+Oceans

You might take a look at The Sound of the Sea:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-sound-of-the-sea-seashells-and-the-fate-of-the-oceans-cynthia-barnett/15252500?ean=9780393651447&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cynthiabarnett.net%2F&source=IndieBound&title=The+Sound+of+the+Sea%3A+Seashells+and+the+Fate+of+the+Oceans<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/bookshop.org/p/books/the-sound-of-the-sea-seashells-and-the-fate-of-the-oceans-cynthia-barnett/15252500?ean=9780393651447&ref=https*3A*2F*2Fwww.cynthiabarnett.net*2F&source=IndieBound&title=The*Sound*of*the*Sea*3A*Seashells*and*the*Fate*of*the*Oceans__;JSUlJSsrKyslKysrKysrKw!!KGKeukY!z3UsiCuKQ9DxPV0nUsBsIKEXV5xjeYXKil2ndeKZaYM6AtNN3makliJpVsL015uZ-MpX-eOd0KnC8oev$>

In a brief mention, I touch on childhood encapture.

Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates
________________________________
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
prc44 at drexel.edu<mailto:prc44 at drexel.edu> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Catherine Early (she/her)
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2023 12:39 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] childhood collecting and taxonomy


External.
Hi all,

I've heard at least one taxonomist say that privately collecting organisms as a child was an important entree to becoming a taxonomist as an adult, and that hyper-restrictive collecting laws may stymy development of future taxonomists. As an example of a hyper-restrictive collecting law, in the state of Minnesota, individuals over the age of 16 cannot collect shells of freshwater mussels that are already dead unless they possess a fishing license. This is a long shot, but is there any museum education literature to support this connection between collecting as a child and becoming a taxonomist as an adult? Thanks!

Best,
Catherine

[Image removed by sender.]

Catherine M. Early, PhD

she/her/hers

Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology

cearly at smm.org<mailto:cearly at smm.org>

https://catherineearly.wixsite.com/home<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/catherineearly.wixsite.com/home__;!!KGKeukY!z3UsiCuKQ9DxPV0nUsBsIKEXV5xjeYXKil2ndeKZaYM6AtNN3makliJpVsL015uZ-MpX-eOd0DKcGWae$>





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