Abstract

Conch fishing in Barbados is a small-scale, legal activity that remains unregulated, unreported, and little known among the island’s general population. The dearth of information has led to Barbados’ inability as a range state to adequately report to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Here, we report on the fishing and marketing of queen conch in Barbados for the first time. Approximately 49 fishers actively harvest conch from nearshore areas all around the island. The majority of fishers (84%) are free divers, although a few use SCUBA to access deeper grounds. Only 20% of fishers harvest conch year-round, whilst the majority fish conch only during the summer months in the pelagic fishing ‘off-season’. The majority (71%) of harvested conch are immature. A very crude estimate of the annual harvest indicates that somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 shells are taken, representing a processed meat weight of around 0.28 - 0.47 mt. Both the meat and shells are generally sold and are of commercial importance to fishers. There are approximately 20 full-time conch shell vendors in Barbados. Although the harvesting of conch is small-scale, the number of fishers few, and the proportion of fishers reporting a decline in abundance of conch is relatively small (36%), the very limited shallow shelf area, the high proportion of immature conch being harvested, and the lack of a closed season to protect the breeding stock are issues of concern

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