Collecting Code of Conduct

[alandmor]

I didn’t know of this but it seems relevant given the nature of the recent discussions on collecting excessive number of specimens, collecting to extinction etc. It is a comprehensive Code of Conduct for Collecting Insects and Other Invertebrates updated in 2002 by the Joint Committee for the Conservation of British Invertebrates and the Royal Entomological Society.

It covers all aspects of collecting including general collecting, trapping, obtaining permission to collect, data recording, environmental concerns and rearing and breeding.   I quote “The code, of necessity, defines certain activities that should be avoided or restricted but it equally emphasizes the need to collect invertebrates in order to gain valuable information, much of which can aid conservation.”, and, “In view of these considerations, the Committee believes that collecting should always be limited to the minimum necessary for the purpose intended, as well as by full compliance with legal requirements relating to particular sites and species. This principle is enshrined within the following code of conduct, together with guidance on the safeguarding of collections and associated data.”

It’s a bit long to include in full but a complete copy is attached and a link is provided below. 

www.royensoc.co.uk/InvLink/documents/Collecting%20Code%20(2002).pdf


Please don’t shoot the messenger!

Attachments:

Collecting Code of Conduct2002.pdf (54.21 KB)

[Chris Grinter]

Interesting. And a recent effort from Andy Deans: sites.psu.edu/frost/2016/01/19/the-insect-collectors-oath/

[joee30]

I think most collectors have a "code of conduct" when it comes to collecting. Many are simple, like collecting a series if certain species are abundant, or collecting a couple if not, ECT.

[leptraps]

Here is the link to the Lepidopterists Society Collecting Code:

www.lepsoc.org/statement_on_collecting.php

Although I use bait traps, and pheromone traps in numbers all Season and sometimes bait traps all year, I take relatively few specimens. From bait traps 99% are let go. The pheromone traps are kill type and I usually keep 75% of what I collect.

I will use light traps several times a month. I keep about 20% of what I take. I field pin Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and a ugly bugs for others. I leave the rest where the birds can find them. I must prepare the material I collect. When I collect some rare or unusual species, I mount some and field pin the rest. When I attend meeting, I have a box or two of these field pinned species. The sign on the box reads: "Take some, leave some for others".

Works for me.