Friday, August 12, 2011

Raping the seabed

I was recently at a local arts and crafts fair and was simply appalled at the number of sea life that was used as jewelry beads. Now I am not talking about shells or even pearls but sea life that had to be harvested while alive to be used as jewelry. The main item was seahorse bodies, next was sea urchins. Both of those types of creatures had to be killed in order for the crafters to use them.

I did enlighten a few people, very politely mind you, as to the origins of their supplies. One women even told me that she wondered why some people would not buy the seahorse jewelry she had made. It was quite possible that her customers were aware of the origins as I was.

As more people become aware of products made from living sea creatures and how they are killed and processed, the less likelihood those people are to buy those products.