Volume 76
Comparing historical and recently harvested Queen Conch (Lobatus gigas) populations using discarded empty shells as a proxy measure of age in Southern Grenada, West Indies
Authors
Nimrod, S., M. Matthew-Bernard, Q. Watson, and S. Gilkes Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2023
Event: Proceedings of the Seventy-Sixth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: Nassau
Country: The Bahamas
Abstract
The queen conch (Lobatus gigas, formally Strombus gigas) is an edible soft-bodied gastropod mollusc or shellfish found in seagrass beds and sand flats. The high demand for this delicacy in the Caribbean can cause queen conch populations to decline due to increased fishing pressure, hindering the queen conch stock’s ability to recover if. Grenada, akin to numerous Caribbean Islands, supports a bustling queen conch fishery. Despite the prolonged fishery activity, due to the informal nature of landing sites, a certain extent of inconsistency is displayed in data entry and data is observed to be very deficient. Primarily, the available data solely encompasses aggregated processed queen conch weights in pounds, lacking detailed insights into the population's structure, age, and sexual maturity. It is difficult to determine the sustainability and viability of the stock in Grenada without knowing the population structure, age, and sexual maturity of the queen conchs being removed.