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Why can you not take seashells? My kids collect them from every beach we go to and we have glass jars full set up as bookends etc at home. If you cannot take them thru customs back onto the cruise ship can they be shipped via postal service back home?
Than again maybe my info is wrong and we can take all the shells we want!
Thank you,
Wendy
Your info is correct. You cannot take shells from USVI beaches and they can be confiscated at departure. The simple answer as to why that's so is because it's the law. I imagine the basis of it is because if everybody did it.....
"Why can you not take seashells? "
Because it's illegal here, regardless of whether you carry them home or mail them. If you're asking for the reasoning behind the law, I don't know.
My guess and just a guess
Seashells are homes for many animals, they stop erosion, and keeps all the confusion out it.
For example: somebody see a piece of live coral or sea fan or trumpet shell, and it would look great in their newly remodeled bathroom back home
so it is snap.... colorx the animal, etc...
Now standing in front the customs dude at the airport, yes sir this piece was lying on the beach wasn't it a great find... and now there is a judgement call - but either way what was alive or a future home is no longer available.
Can you imagine if you had out of town company that loved your rock garden so they took the prettiest rocks with them when they left to drive back to Iowa.
Leave only footprints and take only pictures...
Leave only footprints and take only pictures...
LOVE that!!
How about start collecting seaglass...you can find some very beautiful pieces and you get the same feeling as far as the searching for a pretty one, etc...
Marty's advice is the best. THere are plenty of places to buy shells so to speak. Shelling is not allowed because of the National Park. Everything is protected and for good reason. Shells as you will find out are not abundant in the USVI as like in florida. They make homes for all the creatures. There is so much other things to take in while you are there. The pristine beauty alone is captivating enough! Have a great trip!
"Shelling is not allowed because of the National Park."
The vast majority of USVI beaches are not within the National Park. Removing shells from any USVI beach is prohibited by USVI law.
You can mail seashells and sea glass back to the states...I use to do it many times while living on the island.
You can mail seashells and sea glass back to the states...I use to do it many times while living on the island.
yes, but if you remove them from the National Park, no matter how you get them home, it is against the law
What I've always understood is that it is prohibited to remove shells from any beach in the USVI, not just in the VINP. There are regulations that do apply only to VINP, but that one applies to all of the USVI.
Another view of this is that seashells and parrotfish poop are the main ingredients in SAND. Take the seashells away and what sort of sand would our beaches have?? 😉
The USVI had close to 3 Million visitors last year -- ONE shell apiece is an awful lot of shells!
Charlotte-
Removing them from ANY beach is AGAINST THE LAW! I don't care if you mail it back to the States, fly it back, swim it back...it's ILLEGAL and you shouldn't do it, or encourage anyone else to do it! Like Exit Zero said...3 million shells is ALOT of shells!
I was told once that they confiscate about 800 pounds of shells and coral at the airport every week!!
800 lbs of shells - what do they do with them? Maybe there is someone whose job it is to spread them out on the beaches for the tourists.
