Priceless Or Lifeless?

I've had these images sitting in a file since they were sent to me several months ago. They depict some recent retail efforts by two different stores on Maui of their substantial inventory of formerly living coral reef life. The shops are Banana Wind at the Lahaina Cannery Mall in downtown Lahaina, and Cool Maui Stuff in Kahana. I received a bunch of photos, but here's a small sample so you can get the idea:





And just to assuage any concerns shop visitors might have to the killing fields on display, there's this:

Color me skeptical, but I have trouble picturing the proprietors as genuinely caring. One of the images above shows a collection of fungiid (or mushroom) corals. These corals are not a food source for humans. And in my 43 years, I've never encountered a beach strewn with dead, bleached fungiid coral remains just waiting for an alert entrepreneur. So I presume they fall into the proprietors definition of "non-endangered" species.

First of all, even if I believed the sign's assertion that the animals on display are non-endangered, harvested for food, or found already dead on some "South Pacific Beach" (wherever that might be), creating a demand for these items is likely to lead to their quickly becoming a non-sustainable commodity. As a Maui resident recently commented about these images on a Hawaii message board, as they are just sold for trinkets... they are meeting a false need spurred by consumerism. No one "Needs" these things.

And again, even if these organisms are not currently endangered, what about the status of other life that was displaced or destroyed in the harvest? Pygmy seahorses, a spectacular though low biomass species, require sea fans and other gorgonian habitats for their survival. Being about the size of a grain of rice, I can imagine Pygmy seahorses as being unintended bycatch and collateral fatalities of sea fan collection.

The international shell and ocean curio trade places a tremendous pressure upon tropical coastal resources. Much of the shells, sea stars, and other ocean life that appear in markets (from specialty shell shops to megastores like Walmarts) are sourced from the Philippines. If you sport an ever-popular Puka shell necklace, the shell bits that comprise that inexpensive piece of jewelry were likely gleaned from back-reef systems from throughout the vast Philippine Archipelago and then sold (for pennies) to shell wholesalers for export internationally.

A 2003 study on the sustainability of the Philippine shell trade by the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resource and USAID concluded that while current shell and ocean curio harvests are robust, lack of enforcement, monitoring, and collection limits could rapidly change this situation. One warning seemed particularly worrisome,

Fishery stocks in the Philippines have on the whole been harvested beyond their sustainable yield (Pauly 2000, Green et al. 2003) and mollusk resources are most likely in a similar state. There is however a growing concern as to the sustainability of the trade considering the lack of information about the species and the exact volumes of shell and shellcraft exported from the country. Export records of shells and shellcrafts from concerned government agencies are highly variable and fragmented.

I happen to think that shells, coral, and sea fans look best on and around reefs. Not on a bookshelf, office desk, or curio cabinet. Unfortunately, I recognize that many consumers don't share my opinion. Next time you visit one of the big US mega-store chains (Target, Walmart, K-Mart, etc), keep your eyes open for the truly astounding volume of dead ocean life in everything from candles, placemats, and plant hangers to jewelry, picture frames, and Kleenex-box covers. Then there are the vast killing fields in specialty, nautical gift shops in beach destinations like Maine, Cape Cod, Florida, Maryland, the Carolinas, the Gulf Coast, Santa Cruz, CA, Seattle, and Hawaii. Honestly, if I were to think where I've seen the most sea stars in my life, the answer would probably be in miscellaneous friends and families bathrooms.

There's no denying the lure and attraction of shells and other "decorative" ocean life. And it's that attraction that drives demand and steady supply in the marketplace. But perhaps another Maui commenter got it right when he suggested an alternate sign he'd like to substitute in Maui gift shops, Why not just say "This animal was removed from its environment to sit on a shelf and gather dust for your pleasure".