OECS Fisheries Officers Focus on Conch Nursery Feasibility at Study Tour in Puerto Rico grenadachronicle.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from grenadachronicle.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The first hatchery and nursery run by local fishers is working to save the species. The model is poised for duplication but can it survive stormy, warming seas?
The first and only queen conch hatchery and nursery run by local fishers is poised for duplication across the Caribbean but even if conch farming can help ease overfishing, can it survive in warming, storm-lashed seas?
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‘Hail to the queen’: Saving the Caribbean queen conch
[Many thanks to Peter Jordens for bringing this item to our attention.] Gisele Galoustian (Florida Atlantic University) highlights Dr. Megan Davis’s extensive research into the science and art of growing queen conch and her collaboration with Conservación ConCiencia in Puerto Rico to assist with stock enhancement fisheries of the conch.
With an estimated lifespan between 25 to 40 years, the queen conch (
Strombus gigas) is a prized delicacy long harvested for food and is revered for its beautiful shell. Second only to the spiny lobster, it is one of the most important benthic fisheries in the Caribbean region. Unfortunately, the species faces a challenge of survival: how to endure and thrive, as populations are in a steady state of decline from overfishing, habitat degradation and hurricane damage. In some places, the conch populations have dwindled so low that the remaining conch cannot find breeding par