A handy guide to 'forbidden seashells'

Fond of collecting seashells from beaches for souvenirs? Be careful not to get these ones.

 

The Cebu Green Trade Organization (GTO) released a poster containing all seashell species whose catch and export are decreed illegal by 2001 Fisheries Administrative Order 208.

 

The GTO website specified that none of these species are endangered, but “the law is the law”.

 

Three more laws are listed at the bottom of the page, including 1986 Administrative order 157 that protects Placuna placenta or “Kapis” shells.

 

Seashells are sold as souvenirs, furniture, and decor. But they also play a major role in the marine ecosystem.

 

Marine biologist Ludivina Labe told GMA News Online that seashells provide food, shelter, and protection from predators to other reef inhabitants. “[The] decimation or loss of seashell [populations] … would result in ecological imbalance," she said. — TJD, GMA News