Volume 68
Proactive (and Reactive) Management of Fishery Resources in the Turks and Caicos Islands
Authors
Brightman Claydon, J.A. and M.C. Calosso Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2015
Pages: 37 - 38
Event: Proceedings of the Sixty eigth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: Panama City
Country: Panama
Abstract
In the Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI), fisheries target a multi-species complex of lobster, conch, fishes and turtles (Stringell et al 2013). To differing degrees, all fishers necessarily switch between species according to market, abundance, and closed seasons. The TCI has a large network of no-take marine reserves, but effort to manage fisheries has been almost exclusively dedicated to spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) and queen conch (Strombus gigas), the main focus of commercial fisheries (Béné and Tewfik 2001, Rudd 2003). In 2014, existing regulations for turtles were amended. However, other than a ban on parrotfish (introduced in 2010), there have been no species-specific regulations governing the harvest of fishes in the TCI.