EXPLOITATION OF THE WINDOW-PANE SHELL PLACUNA-PLACENTA IN THE PHILIPPINES

The window-pane shell Placuna placenta or 'kapis' has great economic i mportance in the Philippines. The translucent shell is used in the man ufacture of lampshades and other shellcraft items exported to Europe, USA and Japan. Due to its high demand excessive and uncontrolled gathe ring of kapis has been noted over the past years. Its possible depleti on has been a concern, thus, a nationwide survey on the status of the fishery was conducted in 1993. There ave 27 kapis beds in the Philippi nes, six of which are considered the major soul ces of kapis shells. K apis shells ale gathered by (1) handpicking (in shallow areas); (2) co mpressor diving (in deeper areas); and (3) dredging. Because of open a ccess to the fishery, anybody can exploit the resource. Kapis stocks a re declining in most beds, while in others they are already low as a r esult of excessive gathering, pollution, siltation, and destructive me thods of fishing such as trawling. To prevent further depletion, estab lishment of sanctuaries, bans on trawling and other destructive means of fishing, strict enforcement of existing regulations, community-base d fishery management, and further research on seed production, restock ing, and transplantation are recommended.