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Responsible Collecting: Helping To Conserve Endangered Past Species

Scottish Natural Heritage encourages ‘responsible’ fossil collecting. SNH believes that responsible collecting will, in the long term, promote the science of palaeontology. Responsible fossil collecting generally, is not harmful to the conservation of Scotland’s fossil localities. This is particularly true where the fossils are either relatively common or the locations in which they are found, are being affected by natural or artificial degradation, such as coastal cliffs that are being eroded or quarries that are being actively worked. Collecting of fossil specimens in these situations, where they might otherwise be destroyed can benefit science, provided the fossils are properly documented and made available for study if they are of major importance.

The remains of a fossil fish from the Middle Devonian (380 million years old), from the north-east of Scotland.
Image provided by Scottish Natural Heritage.

The responsible fossil collector seeks permission to access and collect from sites. Only a few samples from in situ, loose and fallen rocks are taken, with details of the location and position of where they came from within the rock layer sequence being recorded.

Resposible collectors seek advice from experts upon the discovery of apparently rare and scientifically important specimens. Collected material is carefully labelled and housed.

The irresponsible fossil collector tends not to seek access and collecting permission from landowners. In pursuit of rare, perfect and specimens, large amounts of rock tend to be removed and other fossils are destroyed. Location and other valuable information may not be recorded and specimens tend to end up being lost to science through their use as unlabelled ornaments.

Irresponsible collecting provides no scientific or educational gain and is therefore an unacceptable activity which results in irreparable damage to our fossil heritage. Some of Scotland’s most important fossil localities have in the past been attacked by irresponsible collectors using equipment such as rock-saws, crowbars, mechanical diggers and even explosives!

The floor of a quarry in north-east Scotland that has been targeted by irresponsible collectors. A rock-saw has been used to remove fossil fish specimens that should have been left for people to look at and study.