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Leave the seashells on the Seashore · How To Protect The Ocean

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  Leave seashells by the seashore. And
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  apparently, people are taking seashells at record levels,
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  and it's actually affecting erosion in these
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  places, like Costa Rica. We're going to talk about a new study that's
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  shown so many seashells are being taken away that
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  it's affecting the environment and the local people. We're going to talk about that on
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  today's episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. Let's start the
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  show. Hey
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  everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm
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  your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is the podcast where you find out what's happening with the ocean,
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  how you can speak up for the ocean, and what you can do to live for a
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  better ocean by taking action. And if you are
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  new here and you wanna learn more, you can go to our website, speakupforblue.com to
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  find out all of our podcast episodes. We have just not just the How to
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  Protect the Ocean, but Beyond Jaws, Aqueducts, Fancy Sciences. We have
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  biased, obviously, but that's speakupforblue.com. And if
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  videos, and ocean jobs that have been posted recently. Check
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  that out, speakupforblue.com forward slash newsletter. Let's
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  talk about Costa Rica. Let's talk about your travel plans. Let's talk about the effect that
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  we have on just travel in general. I want to talk about it by
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  starting off with the story. Went to Malaysia a number of years ago back in
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  2018 for a conference. Great place. It was in Borneo. So it was the
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  island side of Malaysia. It was a beautiful place. We were in
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  Kuching for a marine conference. I remember talking to
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  a friend of mine, Dr. Andrew Thaler, and we were talking about like, hey, what are you going to do
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  when you're here? Like we traveled together. I was like, what are you going to do when you get there? Are
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  you going to do any scuba diving? Are you going to do any kind of touristy type things?
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  We talked about going to like a sanctuary, like an orangutan sanctuary
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  to check that out. But we talked about diving as well. And he says something really
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  interesting to me. I never really thought about it before because I haven't done a
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  ton of traveling worldwide. And he had and he said, you know, when did
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  you go? I don't actually go scuba diving or I try not
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  to do too many things where I can leave an imprint. on
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  something that's in a negative way. And he talked about scuba diving and
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  he's like, I just don't, you know, what if I touch something by accident or, you
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  know, something happens, I just don't feel like I wanna have that type of imprint.
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  I wanna leave the local area to the local people and
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  let them enjoy it, let them be able to live off of it like a
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  lot of the places do in Malaysia. And I never thought about
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  it that way. I never thought about going to a place and just, like,
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  thinking of the people. I know it's selfish. It's a very sort of North American kind
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  of style. When we go away, you know, we'll go down south
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  to the Caribbean, we'll go down to Central America, we'll go down to South America. All
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  over the place, all over the world, we have that privilege to travel. And
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  a lot of times, you think of yourself. You think of, like, what am I going to do down
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  there? What good time am I going to have? What am I going to be able to
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  accomplish while I'm down there doing all the touristy things? Like, if you go to Costa Rica,
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  surfing, the hot springs, ziplining, just
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  enjoying the ocean in itself, scuba diving, snorkeling, river
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  touring, like there's a lot of ecotourism places in Costa Rica. And
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  so when you go down to these places, you think, what can I
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  do? What can I do to help out
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  or just to enjoy the local area, right?
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  We all want to enjoy that tropical sunset. Let's be honest,
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  in Canada, a lot of people are moving down to Costa Rica so that they can
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  enjoy Costa Rica, they can enjoy the tropical weather. Some people don't like
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  it in Canada. Taxes, government, all that kind of stuff.
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  They're going down there to live there, taking away property from
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  other people and from the local people
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  and it's just, I feel like it's just icky. It's an icky thing that
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  we Canadians do. It's an icky thing that people do all the time. But one thing that
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  has really been identified recently, and I didn't even know this was a problem, but there's a
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  seashell crisis in Costa Rica that put coasts at risk.
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  That's insane. Like to think about that many seashells being taken
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  and being brought back over as a souvenir that's
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  becoming a problem. And so apparently that Costa Rica is
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  facing this growing environmental crisis due to the massive removal of
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  seashells from its coast driven by tourism.
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  So it's not just people just randomly taking it, it's driven
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  by tourism. So not only are people just taking them from the beach,
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  but they're being sold so that people can have them on their chains, on
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  necklaces, on bracelets and so forth. Then they can just bring them home in
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  a glass Mason jar or something like that or a plastic jar or whatever that
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  might be. This seemingly
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  minor practice is destabilizing beaches in Costa Rica,
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  accelerating erosion, and harming marine ecosystems. Seashells
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  are vital for maintaining the structure of beaches, serving
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  as habitats for species like hermit crabs, If you don't know
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  what a hermit crab is, you've never really seen a hermit crab. I've had a lot of
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  experience with dealing with hermit crabs in the marine aquarium industry, which is another
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  thing that takes away things from tropical areas. But when you look at a hermit crab,
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  they have these little seashells, right? They have these shells that they live in. They actually can't
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  grow the shell. So if they grow too big, they have to leave that shell,
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  and they have to go into another one. And if a hermit crab is in that one that they want,
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  they have to fight that hermit crab, take it out, and then go into that one. It's very
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  competitive. but a very interesting type of life cycle. But they
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  need seashells to keep themselves protected. That's what
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  hermit crabs do. So hermit crabs rely on
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  these seashells to be available. Supporting marine biodiversity by
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  contributing to the formation of coral reefs and nutrient cycles. So the
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  actual shells, whether they break down or
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  whether they become part of the habitat for corals to settle
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  on, it becomes a really important part of the ecosystem.
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  Coral reefs are home of a lot of different species. They're one of the
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  most biodiverse habitats known to man, especially in shallow areas.
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  They're already going through enough. They need the limestone of
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  the seashells, of what they're made of, and they need that calcium. Whether
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  it comes off the seashell or they just use it as
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  a stable place to settle, they need those
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  seashells. Taking it away takes away potential
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  habitat for coral reefs as well as the calcium that comes
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  off of those limestone shells. The removal also
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  worsens ocean acidification, disrupts species reproduction,
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  and ecosystem balance. Let's talk about ocean acidification for
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  a second because we're already in a period because of
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  climate change, where ocean acidification is increasing. So right
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  now, when you look at oceans, oceans are around 8.3 pH, right?
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  A pH of 8.3, so they're basic. They're essentially not
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  basic as in like, you're basic. It's basic as
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  in the pH is basic. If the pH
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  decreases, meaning it goes under 8.3 and
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  towards the acidity part of pH, like going down to
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  under seven, then it will stop being
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  hospitable for things like corals, for things
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  like formation of seashells and the growth of seashells for snails
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  and mollusks like clams and mussels and oysters
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  and so forth, and that could be a huge problem for limestone in
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  general. calcium will not be available in acidic situations. I'm
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  not saying pH is going to go down to 6, but the balance
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  of the ocean is very, very narrow. And if
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  the range goes below 8.2, 8.1, 8.0 pH, it can really
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  mess up the entire ecosystem, the entire balance of the ecosystem. And
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  we're seeing that with the influx of carbon dioxide being
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  absorbed into the ocean by algae right
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  and it's and we're seeing that influx come in we're starting
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  to see less calcium being available into the
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  ocean and like free calcium so that it gets picked up by corals it
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  gets picked up by limestone rocks like you know all that and
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  you're starting to see an erosion of these like
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  shell-based animals. So you're looking at crustaceans like lobsters
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  and shrimp and crabs. You're looking at coral reefs like
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  corals themselves. They can't handle it. Molluscs, clams,
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  oysters, scallops, all those different types of animals that
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  require a limestone shell cannot get the calcium that they
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  need because as acidity increases or increases, you
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  start to get less available calcium. and
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  that is not good for the ocean. So ocean acidification is
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  not good. It is brought on and exacerbated by
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  climate change. And of course, by taking away seashells so
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  that you can't get any of those limestones eroded away into
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  the ecosystem where you get calcium into the water. So in
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  2023 alone, how bad is the problem? In 2023 alone, authorities seized
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  over five tons of seashells. But the challenges
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  in identifying their origins have complicated conservation efforts.
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  So many of the shells remain in storage. They're not
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  allowed to go back or are discarded due to
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  limited resources for proper classification. You can't just
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  put these seashells back in anywhere. They have to
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  be put back where they were found. Very difficult to trace
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  them. Because let's be honest, when they're sold at markets and tourism
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  markets or like at an all-inclusive resort if you're there, or
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  on the side of the road, people are just grabbing them and taking them. There's no like
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  stamp on it of where they're from. There's no writing on it where
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  they're from. It's very difficult to identify which beach they're from. And
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  certain seashells are unique to certain areas. And so that's what you don't want.
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  to happen. You just don't want to be in that situation. You're never
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  going to get to know where these seashells are coming from. So
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  having it going back is really difficult. So in response, organizations
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  and the University of Costa Rica have developed innovative solutions.
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  So using AI technology, so AI can be good for something. Using
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  AI technology trained on 18,500 shell
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  images, they can now accurately classify shells
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  and return them to their natural environments. That means they can
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  take a look at the image, they can scan the image and say this shell
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  is most likely from this particular like Guanacaste up
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  in the northwest. or down near San
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  Jose, like on the Caribbean side. They'll be able to tell where
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  these seashells are from. And the more images they have of different shells,
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  the more of an ability they have to return the shells to the right place once
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  they're taken. That's just one thing that they can do. The big
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  thing is prevention of taking too many. Obviously, you can't really
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  control how many people are taking shells, if it's one or two here and there.
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  But if it's this many, where it's five tons are confiscated, that's
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  a problem that needs to be addressed. right? This is not as just like people
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  are taking one or two, putting them in their pocket and then leaving. This is like massive amounts
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  that are being sold to tourists and they're taking them home. And that's
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  a, that's a big problem. You can't just take natural things at
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  that size or that amount and not expect consequences
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  to happen. So in a landmark achievement, thousands of confiscated shells
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  were restored to the sea, marking a major step in
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  marine conservation. So that is you know, remarkable to
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  be able to have that through AI technology, through
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  studies to say, hey, we can actually put this back. We have a problem. We've
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  diagnosed what the problem is. We're going to try and stop it at the source where
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  people are taking this amount of seashells. But in the meantime, we're
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  going to be able to see how we can actually return them
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  using AI technology to the coast. That will be
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  an important part. This initiative highlights the importance of sustainable tourism
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  and collective action in preserving Costa Rica's biodiversity. The
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  government and conservationists are urging tourists to leave wildlife
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  untouched. Not only alive, but shells, even though you think that you
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  deserve to have them. You don't deserve to have them. I always say, when
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  you're in someone else's backyard or when you're in someone else's country, just
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  use the idea and the standard that
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  scuba divers use. You can look, but do not touch. Do
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  not take. do not bring home just leave it there take
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  a picture of it or leave it for memory in the memory bank up
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  here and you can enjoy your time there and go back and
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  not have to worry about people taking seashells and you'll enjoy the
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  wildlife when you go back so it's emphasizing that you know
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  wildlife remain untouched emphasizing that each and every
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  species is crucial to maintaining ecological balances for
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  future generations so this is not not a complicated story.
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  Just because they're in the wild, it doesn't mean that they belong to you. Leave them be.
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  There's a purpose and a place for everything. Leave them
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  be. I'd love to know what you think about this article, what you think about this story. Let
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  me know on Instagram. DM me at HowToProtectTheOcean, or
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  you can leave a comment down below on our YouTube channel. You
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  can comment on our Spotify channel, and you can also DM
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  me on Instagram, like I mentioned, at HowToProtectTheOcean. I
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  would love to hear your thoughts on this story, but until then, Thank you
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  so much for joining me on today's episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin. Have a great day. We'll talk to you next time and happy