Undersize Trochus
p. 149 · Read in the full issue
From Bsip
And New Guinea
QUANTITIES of undersized “chic ken” trochus shell are being fished and exported from Papua-New Guinea and Solomons waters, according to Mr. Kennetn E.
White, Australian representative of an English shell-buying organi sation.
The legal minimum is 25 inches
diameter, but Mi 1 . White says that he recently saw large quantities of very much smaller trochus from those sources in button factories in Japan and Europe. A percentage of such shell is constantly reaching, Sydney en route to world markets.
He said that he drew the atten tion of the BSIP Government ta this situation some time ago.
The fishing of such shell, Mr, White points out, is bound to have an adverse long-range effect on the valuable reef beds of those Terri tories.