Wildlife trade and conservation
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Environment Australia, June 1998
The excellent prior reports on the specimen shell trade (Willan, 1986; Davey, 1993) introduce the background to the shell trade and shell collecting so this will not be repeated here. Willan (1986) estimated that the annual value of the shell trade was $2.5 million in the mid 1980s but since then the number of specimens exported has reportedly doubled (Davey, 1993).
With the development of State Management Plans for Specimen Shell Fisheries, there is a need to review the list of marine molluscs found in Australia considered to be potentially vulnerable to exploitation from the shell trade. The current lists (Willan, 1986; Davey, 1993) require modification and updating because of new information and additional relevant species having been described.
The purpose of the list is to be used as a guide to State and Territory Fisheries Departments when formulating their management plans for the Specimen Shell Trade as required under Commonwealth Legislation. The list can also be used by the Commonwealth for assessing the State/Territory management plans.
In order that the list can be effectively used we have attempted to identify species potentially or actually at risk both nationally and at the state/territory level. This has been done by using a set of transparent criteria (see Methods). However, we are very much aware that the data used to assess each species was generally rather poor, due to the great lack of biological and other data about most of the species. Thus there must be recognition that these lists are tentative and in need of regular updating.