Abstract

The Queen Conch Lab is an aquaculture, conservation, research, and education program at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. The program works with partners on community-based queen conch projects across the Caribbean. Culturally important, queen conch are prized for their pink shells and nutritious meat. Communities depend on conch as a source of food and income. As grazers, they play a key ecological role in seagrass habitats. Intense fishing pressure and habitat loss have resulted in declining queen conch populations. In 2020, the Queen Conch Lab established the ‘eConch: eLearning for Growing Queen Conch’ initiative as a strategy to address requests from Caribbean communities for information on how to grow conch for restoration, conservation, and sustainable seafood purposes. ‘eConch’ is an interactive online course being developed in partnership with FAU Center for Online and Continuing Education. The syllabus will feature eight modules that include video content, live virtual presentations, activities, and group discussions designed for a broad audience. This concept emerged based on findings from two focused planning sessions with site partners throughout the Caribbean that have signed up to beta test the course in 2022. The success of this initiative will be the implementation of a well-tested eLearning course on the cultivation of queen conch that can be offered to additional participants in the Caribbean. Wide-ranging distribution of this knowledge will benefit the species, the ecosystem, and the communities that depend on the fishery.

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