All eyes on Bahamas as conch stocks decline in Florida

Wed, Aug 9th 2017, 10:59 AM

The Bahamas is being looked at as the proverbial "final frontier" for conch, according to a Miami Herald article that says scientists are looking to these waters for the answers on the depletion of conch stocks, while looking for the answer to bring the large sea snail populations back to healthy levels.
According to the Miami Herald article, entitled "The conch is mostly gone from Florida. Can The Bahamas save the queen", even in protected areas, like the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park, researchers found conch had "sharply declined as adult conchs steadily matured and died off".
"The population hasn't crashed yet, like it has in the Florida Keys, but in the last five years, the number of adult conchs in one of The Bahamas' healthiest populations dropped by 71 percent," the article said.
The article notes that, in Florida, overfishing nearly destroyed the entire industry. Though government eventually stepped in to protect conch, it was too late, the article states. Key West was once known as the 'Conch republic'.
Ancilleno Davis, who studied conch extensively during his time as a researcher with the Bahamas National Trust (BNT), said it is an important economic resource for The Bahamas and insisted that its possible depletion is a complex issue that is tied to our culture.
"From an economic standpoint it's a huge part of what we consider our day-to-day economy," he said.
"Conch pearls, conch jewelry, the guy who sells the conch shell by the cruise ship dock, the pictures of conch... It's so tied into our economics and culture, but it's also an actual real food resource.
"If something happens and we have to go back to the ocean, we will want to find some conch to eat."
Davis said he is convinced that there is lots of conch to be had in Bahamian waters, but lamented that overfishing and poaching are issues of concern.
"I've seen plenty conch in plenty places," he said.
"I've seen giant conch out at Cay Sal Bank, but, we've seen a lot of people fishing and a lot of them weren't Bahamian."
He said if The Bahamas wants to have a conch industry, it has to set catch limits and make sure fishermen are bringing in the right size conch.
"When they take them from The Bahamas and sell them in Florida, they aren't in the shell," he said. "That conch can be any kind of baby conch they are selling, and people just don't think about that."
Davis said that as The Bahamas develops systems to measure conch and police the catching and distribution of it, this will assist in the conservation of this important resource.
"You will be protecting the conch," he said.
"I want my children to be able to taste a conch salad whenever they come home."
Davis said the Bahamas National Trust's Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park is working as a conch nursery, but more has to be done.
"The way our science is protecting the nursery groups... it works," he said.
"We don't have enough parks targeted to protecting conch nurseries. The BNT is doing a great job at developing new parks, but the government legislation isn't set up in a way to protect them."

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