Growing Global Tourism Steals Seashells from Beaches

Global tourism continues to grow by leaps and pounds. In fact, it's increased fourfold over just the past 30 years. Now, scientists have found that this tourism has resulted in human-induced seashell loss that may harm natural habitats worldwide.

In order to examine how the health of beaches might be impacted by tourism, the researchers conducted multiple monthly surveys from 1978 to 1981 and from 2008 to 2010 on Llarga Beach. This small stretch of shoreline is located on the coast of Spain. The scientists also estimated the number of tourists visiting the beach by examining area hotel sales data. In the end, they found that the number of tourists increased threefold over 30 years. Not only that, but over the same period of time the number of shells on the beach decreased by more than 60 percent.

"This research is best described as a case study that evaluates shell loss due to tourism and then explores how this process may affect natural habitats," said Michal Kowalewski, one of the researchers, in a news release. "It's too early to tell whether this depletion is substantial enough to trigger major environmental changes. However, our results suggest that we should not ignore this issue."

In fact, the beach in this study isn't even a major tourist hotspot and doesn't possess shells that are diverse, beautiful or valuable to collectors. It's very likely that beaches that are known to have shells that are particularly precious are affected in ways that are far more substantial.

"Although significant research has been done on the impacts of human activity on live shellfish, including recreational harvesting and curio collecting, we are still lacking rigorous studies estimating the scale of shell removal by humans," said Kowalewski in a news release. "Shells are remarkable in that they serve multiple functions in natural ecosystems, from beach stabilization to building materials for bird nests."

Currently, more studies are needed to help assess how this shell removal might be impacting local ecosystems. In addition, further studies could prompt officials to develop proper beach management practices that could help prevent tourists from taking shells from the ecosystem.

The findings are published in the journal PLOS One.