Why You Shouldn’t Take Beach Shells When Visiting The Dominican Republic

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Why you shouldn't take beach shells if you visit the Dominican Republic

We all damage the environment in some way. We do it by driving, recycling poorly, consuming energy resources or using harmful materials. What you may not have known is that if you’ve ever done something as seemingly harmless as picking up shells from the beach, you’re also damaging the environment.

It sounds like a joke, but it’s not: according to experts, it’s a serious threat for which the consequences have not been calculated.

human influence is depleting the shell beaches, especially when two factors are involved: that the area is touristic, which multiplies the human effect, and that the shells in the area are beautiful.

Collecting seashells, even the dead ones you find in the sand, has a great impact on the ecosystem of the beach. Okay, we know you only pick up a handful but considering that the beaches of the Dominican Republic are visited by millions of tourists every year, the numbers count.

In fact, in the Dominican Republic, there are areas protected by the country’s environmental organization such as Saona Island, where it is prohibited to collect seashells or remove anything that could affect or alter the biodiversity of the area.

There are studies that confirm the relationship between the increase of tourists in summer and the percentage of seashells that disappear. They determine that, in some cases, if tourism increases by 30%, shells are reduced by 60%.

To date, it is believed that tourists are the only factor that seems to have influenced the loss of these shells.

Among other functions of the sea shells, its function as a habitat for species such as the hermit crab stands out. They also serve as protection for some fish that seek to defend themselves from their predators.

Further erosion of the beaches. It may be that the next time you go to that particular beach there will be less sand.

Also, some algae, sea sponges, seagrasses and other microorganisms adhere to them.

Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints.

These small shells are part of a life cycle, as clams and small oysters need calcium carbonate to develop their own shells and absorb these elements from dead shells that erode over time.

In the water, their presence is critical, because, without them, the pH will acidify, resulting in less reef and therefore less marine life.

But not everything stays at sea level, even birds need the shells to build their nests in the territories surrounding the beach.

Next time you go to the beach and are tempted to pick up a nice shell, think that there are animals that need it to survive.

Prohibited items you can’t take from the beach to take with you

Likewise, you should know that you should not buy or take from the beach any element or handicraft that provide organisms or living beings, such as turtle shells, snail or shellfish shells, starfish ect.

It is very likely that you will not even be able to take them with you on the plane because these items are forbidden to be taken through customs in the Dominican Republic.

All this is logical, it is about protecting the environment, the turtle in the Dominican Republic is a protected species, which in the not too distant past suffered great losses due to indiscriminate hunting.

As well as the starfish and all aquatic living beings, they should be conserved and not exploited in the name of tourism.

Remember that the Dominican Republic is visited by more than 6 million tourists every year and the number increases, we must try to preserve the environment and that the ecological footprint is as small as possible.

There are many other wonderful gifts and souvenirs to take home from the Dominican Republic and Punta Cana.

 

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4 Comments

  1. Hello,
    Thank you for your article.
    I am currently in the DR, and found a snail shell. I was trying to identify it, and came across your site.

    Even with my university degree in environmental studies, I did not consider why removing a snail shell would be a threat.

    I would love to connect via email to discuss further.

    Thanks, again!

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      Hi Kyra, thanks for commenting…

      This topic is actually quite subjective, but the fact that you came to the website looking for a way on how to identify a beach shell gives me an idea for a new topic.

      You can write your arguments through the contact page of the website, the message will arrive at my email, I check it daily.

  2. If this is not recommended why are there millions of local souvenirs that have sea shells and sand and coral rocks in or in them.. I dont think it’s just the tourists but as well as Thank you locals who are trying to make and sell items to make a living in what seems to be a very low wage country … ?!

    1. Elvis Alcequiez says:

      There are not millions of souvenir stores in the DR, when talking about statistics it is not fair to use superlative terms, and yes, those stores do not contribute to the concept explained in the topic, but it is not the same statistically when compared to the more than 8 million tourists that visit the DR year after year.

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