Abstract

Tobago’s queen conch fishery has seen a continued decline in productivity since the 1970’s due to a lack of proper monitoring or management. With unregulated and unmonitored harvesting, Trinidad and Tobago remains unable to report on the status of the queen conch fishery, lending to the continuation of poor management. Focusing on juvenile stages, the dispersal of local conch resources at larval stages via current flow can be a key factor in depletion, taking into consideration the magnitude of currents found in and around the Tobago coastal region. As such, it is necessary to determine the population’s genetic structure, and to further identify whether there is indeed the potential for larval transport of Tobago’s conch stock via existing current patterns. This study provides an improved understanding of connectivity of queen conch populations throughout the Caribbean, specifically in relation to population structures of queen conch in Tobago and their gene flow. It examines the potential for larval transport determining genetic linkages and analysing gene flow as a means of differentiating the conch populations. Very little research has been done regarding Trinidad and Tobago’s conch population, so this study will serve as a first look into the population structures, and possibly give new insight into better approaches that facilitate more effective management of the resource. It also constitutes a first step in understanding the queen conch metapopulation structure, which will in turn, call for more local actions for the recovery and conservation of Tobago’s populations.

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