Italian police seize shells and sand; fine tourists in Sardinia

ROME — Dozens of tourists will have to pay dearly for their souvenirs from Sardinia’s pristine beaches.

Italian media said earlier this month that customs police on the Mediterranean island issued fines of as much as $3,600 to 41 people who recently tried to leave the island with a total of 220 pounds of sand, seashells and beach rocks.

The LaPresse news agency said in some cases tourists had put the beach booty up for sale on the internet, feeding a flourishing, illicit market for such souvenirs, including from swank resort areas along the Italian island’s Emerald Coast.

Bags of sand, shells and stones were seized at Sardinia’s airports and ports in keeping with a 2017 regional law that established fines ranging from $600 to $3,600. The seized sand was brought back by authorities to the beaches when possible.

The law aims to prevent the cumulative effect of removing sand and shells by the millions of tourists who flock each year to the Mediterranean island, which is renowned for long stretches of pristine sandy beaches.

Mysterious black substance on Wells Beach is many dead bugs

WELLS, Maine — Scientists have determined that a black substance that had settled near the shore line over several days at a beach in Maine is made up of millions of dead bugs.

One of the regulars who walk Wells Beach, Ed Smith, took photos of the substance in the sand and sent them to the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Portland Press Herald reported Tuesday.

Smith wanted to know because he said his feet were dyed black after walking through it and he wanted to know if it was possibly toxic.

Steve Dickson, a marine geologist with Maine Geological Survey, figured out what was going on with the help of two retired oceanographers who live nearby. One of them, Linda Stathoplos, took a sample from the beach and looked at it under her microscope.

“It was clearly little bugs,” Stathoplos said.

“This is the first time I’ve seen or heard of this in my 35 years,” Dickson said, adding that he is still trying to determine what the bugs are, where they came from and why. But he does not expect it to be a regular occurrence.