Queen conch  (Strombus gigas)

Queen conch have provided a staple meat source in the Caribbean region for centuries and in recent times have been extensively overfished for this resource. Their flesh is also used as fishing bait and the shells can be sold for the tourist trade (6). The tendency of conch to aggregate in shallow waters in order to spawn in the summer months has allowed them to be easily exploited. The population is now in decline throughout most of the region (5). Fishing for conch has been banned in Florida and Bermuda, but so far populations in these areas are showing few signs of recovery (9).

The Queen conch is listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), thus requiring an export permit for trade to occur (7). In 1996, the countries within this conch's range recognised the importance of the species and adopted an International Queen Conch Initiative to promote a common international management strategy for the queen conch resource in the Caribbean region (8). It has been suggested that harvesting limits or marine reserves will allow the species to recover from overfishing in the past. Queen conches have been bred in captivity but attempted reintroduction programmes have so far proven unsuccessful (6).