Abstract

Following an initiative of the environmental and fisheries authorities of the San Andres Archipelago and with the support of NOAA Fisheries and the Colombian CITES authority, the international workshop for the improvement of the queen conch collaborative management in the southwestern Caribbean was held last July 28-31, 2008 in San Andres Island. Attended total of 79 participants including fisheries, environmental and maritime managers, international experts and fishers along with CITES authorities from Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Grand Cayman, Dominican Republic as well as special guest from CFMC, OSPESCA, GCFI, NOAA, Wildlife Service (USA) and Environment Canada. The first day, the Colombians had their separate meeting for the advance of the national conch management plan. During the following three days country representatives presented their stock status and fisheries management and experts talked about the ecosystem based management, the importance of marine protected areas, the conch reproductive aspects and the incompatibility between traditional approaches and the biology and ecology of this species, as well as the regional illegal trading. Results of this workshop were the agreements in more responsible management in the southwestern Caribbean and the conformation of an international network that would develop activities oriented to the resource study, standardization of evaluation methods, and promotion of more effective enforcement. The need for better communication channels among managers and mechanisms for information exchange were also highlighted.

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