Incurio trade, seashells are a big business -- but a latest report of wildlifetrade monitoring network, TRAFFIC-India, states that large-scale exploitationcan have a strong negative impact on ecosystems.
InIndia, the operculum of the shell is used to make incense sticks and'mother of pearl' (the iridescent inner shell layer produced by some molluscs)is used as jewellery ” a large part of the collection is sent to Bengalfor making bangles.
Shellsare also used as a base for some ointments and other medicines.
Liveshelled organisms are collected and traded for the marine aquarium trade andthere is also a huge demand for the popular sacred chank, turbinella pyrum,known in India as the shankha. The chank is considered auspicious among Hindusand Buddhists. The rare form in which the whorls turn in a counterclockwisespiral (if viewed from the apex of the shell) are called Dakshinavrati or“right-whorled” and are highly priced. Harvest studies done by the Central MarineFisheries Institute (CMFRI) have suggested reducing the harvest by at least 30%for the chank fisheries to be sustainable.
Thereport states that despite the protection to many seashell species, there islittle check on their collection and trade. Study done by the WildlifeInstitute of India (WII) has established the Gulf of Mannar region as themain centre for collection, processing and trade.
Thisstudy also found that the average size of shells in the trade has decreased, indicatingover-harvest. Danushkodi, Rameswaram, Keelakarai and Tuticorin are the main collection centres in the Gulf of Mannar region. Locally,seashells are collected from chank divers. Shells are also collected fromtraditional and mechanized fishing ventures.
Marineecologist Divya Karnad says: "Fishermen may harvest sea shells in the shallowsduring the monsoon, when the weather is bad for fishing on the west coast ofIndia. The erstwhile pearl divers of Keelakarai in the Gulf of Mannar, turned toharvesting sea shells and even sea cucumbers, a protected species, afterthe pearl oyster fisheries became unproductive in the early tomid-1900s".
Nearshore, the shells are collected by skin divers and traditional fisher folks.Bottom trawler by catch is a major contributor to seashell harvest. The rawshells thus collected are chemically processed, flesh and operculum are removed,and polished shells are then transported to markets in India andabroad. The raw shell processing centres are largely situated in Kanyakumariand Rameshwaram. India is also a major importer of seashells, in particularfrom the Maldives, Philippines and East Africa.
MainlandIndia, being peninsular in shape, has a long coastline (7500 km approx)on the eastern and western sides. It also has two major island groups.Seashells are found all across these areas, but the Gulf of Mannar has thelargest commercial shell beds in India.
