Nature today | March 19 is the first Dutch shell count day

In Belgium, the Flanders Marine Institute has been organizing a shell counting day for five years. This year the Netherlands is participating for the first time. Dutch organizations working on biodiversity and knowledge on our beaches will help families, beach visitors and citizen scientists map seashells on eight beaches. Participating makes all your trips to the beach more fun, and data helps science.

Everyone can count: you stand at the high tide line and collect a hundred seashells in an expanding spiral. With the help of a search map or experts on the spot, you can identify it. The data is combined and compared with that of the meters on the Belgian beaches.

The big day of shell counting – method (Source: VLIZoostende)

pilot

The March 19 count is a pilot in a limited number of places. There are volunteers on seven beaches in South Holland (Ouddorp, Hoek van Holland, Kijkduin, Scheveningen, Katwijk, Noordwijk and Langevelderslag), and there is a satellite that relies on Texel. Naturalis in Leiden offers a free day program with activities and the central “Schelpdesk”, where really difficult species are identified.

If this is successful, there will be a national shell count in the future, in which even more parties and volunteers will participate. And if you like it, it will become an annual tradition, like in Flanders. “Enthusiasts are often the indispensable ears and eyes of scientists,” says shellfish expert Frank Wesselingh of Naturalis. “The shell counting days in Flanders show that bather observations provide good information. In addition, participants learn about life on and around the beach.

More information

The first Dutch Shell Counting Day is a joint initiative of Naturalis, The Dutch Malacological Society, Anemone Foundation, North Sea Foundation and Strandwerk Community. More information and a clear search map can be found at naturalis.nl/schelpenteldag†

You can find more information about the Flemish shell counting days at bigshellcountingday.be†

Text: Naturalis Biodiversity Center
Pictures: Taco van der Eb†Frank Wesselingha
Video: VLIZoostende