Abstract

Because of the high protein value of its meat and the low catch per unit effort required, the queen conch (Strombus gigas) has been situated among one of the most important fishery resources of the Caribbean, after the spiny lobster. Shell middens distributed throughout the Archipiélago de Los Roques National Park reveal the importance of this marine resource for the region. In order to establish the characterization of the fishery of queen conch through time, and the impact this activity had in the natural populations of the mollusk, surveys of seven shell middens situated in the cayo La Pelona and its surroundings were made. The radiocarbon analysis and the detailed composition of the each of the studied shell middens, pre-hispanic (1270 to 1450 A.C.) and contemporary (1980 to 1995 A.C.), demonstrated how pre-colombian indians fished mostly adults conchs (80 to 90 %), while contemporary fishermen broadened their range of catch through all age classes. These observed differences between the two fisheries regimes (pre-hispanic vs. contemporary) probably had influences on the size at maturity of the individuals in natural populations of Strombus gigas. A significant decrease in the mean shell length of subadults was measured between the contemporary middens through time (from 22.5 to 20.8 cm)(p < 0.001), while between the pre-hispanic middens these differences were not observed (22.7 to 22.1 cm)(p = 0.683).

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