Overutilization
The primary threat to queen conch is overutilization through commercial and illegal fishing. Despite a multitude of fisheries management measures enacted across the region, populations are depleted. The depleted densities of remaining queen conch populations limit mate finding, reproduction, recruitment, and population connectivity.
Inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms
Existing regulatory mechanisms including morphometric and exploitation thresholds, compliance, and enforcement are insufficient to protect the species from growth overfishing and poaching, including illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, throughout the Caribbean.
In November 1992, queen conch was included in Appendix II of CITES. After extensive reviews of scientific and management information, CITES proposed a range of actions in the mid-1990s and again in 2003-05 to improve the sustainability and legality of the trade. In the United States, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the government agency designated under the ESA to carry out the provisions of CITES. NOAA Fisheries provides guidance and scientific support on marine issues given our technical expertise.
In recognition of the overutilization of the species, the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC) formed a queen conch working group at their 14th session, in 2012. The working group focuses on strengthening national, regional, and international efforts towards queen conch conservation, while also promoting the fishing communities that depend on them, through the adoption and implementation of the Regional Queen Conch Fisheries Management and Conservation Plan. The WECAFC working group has regular meetings to promote conservation strategies and international commitments to conservation efforts.
Innovative strategies continue to be proposed to enhance queen conch conservation. Through aquaculture, queen conch can be harvested without removing individuals from the wild. Farmed queen conch could potentially be used in the future to restock wild populations. Several small-scale queen conch aquaculture programs exist throughout the Caribbean, primarily sponsored by the Queen Conch Lab at Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. One of these projects is run at the Naguabo Aquaculture Center which has a queen conch hatchery and nursery for restoration as well as an aquaponic system that is used to grow sea vegetables for culinary dishes and coastal restoration. This Aquaculture Center serves as a demonstration and training facility for Puerto Rico and other Caribbean countries. It is supported with grants from Saltonstall-Kennedy NOAA Fisheries, USDA Agricultural Research Service, and Puerto Rico Sea Grant.
