Queen Conch (Strombus gigas)

• Population levels of queen conch have declined due to overharvest.
• Harvest of queen conch is prohibited in the majority of U.S. waters. There is a small area open in federal waters in the Caribbean around Lang Bank east of St Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands (U.S.V.I.). Queen conch are also harvested in territorial waters of Puerto Rico and the U.S.V.I., mainly St. Croix.
• Queen conch is a good low-fat source of protein. It is high in vitamins E and B12, magnesium, selenium, and folate, but is also high in cholesterol. For more on nutrition, see Nutrition Facts. (USDA)
• Queen conch are popular for their meat and their attractive shells. The species is one of the most important fishery resources in the Caribbean. Since harvest is limited in U.S. waters, the United States (including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands) imports almost 80% of the queen conch meat on the international market.

Sustainability Status

Biomass: Not available. NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center attempted a stock assessment for queen conch in 2007, but data were not adequate to assess the species.
Overfishing: Yes
Overfished: Yes
Fishing and habitat: Queen conch are primarily harvested by hand so there is little to no damage to habitat.
Bycatch: Queen conch are primarily harvested by hand so the fishery is very selective and there is little to no bycatch.
Aquaculture: Queen conch has been the subject of aquaculture efforts since wild populations began to decline in the 1970s.

Science and Management

Queen conch is regulated by the Caribbean Fishery Management Council (CFMC) through the Fishery Management Plan for Queen Conch Resources of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Harvest of queen conch is prohibited in the majority of U.S. federal waters surrounding Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (U.S.V.I.) and in Florida. There is a small area open in the Caribbean around Land Bank east of St Croix, U.S.V.I. Queen conch can also be harvested in territorial waters of Puerto Rico and the U.S.V.I., mainly St Croix. The season for queen conch in federal waters is open from October 1 to June 30. Recreational fishermen are allowed three conch per person or, if more than 4 person are aboard a vessel, 12 per vessel.

While there is no international regional fishery management organization in the Caribbean, resource managers from Caribbean countries have created the International Queen Conch Initiative to promote a common international management strategy for the queen conch resource in the region. Their first meeting took place in 1996 and was supported by the CFMC, U.S. Department of Commerce, the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). At that meeting, the Declaration of San Juan was adopted, meaning countries in the region pledged to work together to strengthen bilateral, sub-regional, and regional mechanisms to establish common management regimes for the sustainable use of queen conch.

Life History and Habitat

Life history, including information on the habitat, growth, feeding, and reproduction of a species, is important because it affects how a fishery is managed. Queen conch have a number of life history traits which make the use of methods designed for finfish assessments problematic for conch assessments. For example, conch cannot be accurately aged as growth is quite variable over different populations.

• Geographic range: Throughout the Caribbean and in the Gulf of Mexico, south Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda.
• Habitat: Queen conch are found in groups of hundreds of individuals. They live in shallow, clear water at depths less than 245 feet (most often in water less than 100 feet). They prefer seagrass meadows, coral rubble, algal plains, and sandy bottoms.
• Life span: Queen conch are long-lived - they are estimated to live up to 30 years.
• Food: Larvae feed on plankton before settling to the bottom. Adults feed on algae, incidentally ingesting bits of seagrass, macroalgae, sediment, and small benthic animals in the process.
• Growth rate: Variable, dependent on habitat, food, and predators.
• Maximum size: In the Caribbean, queen conch are the largest species in the genus Strombus. They can grow to 12 inches in length and 5 pounds in weight.
• Reaches reproductive maturity: While highly variable, reproductive maturity is generally reached between 3 and 4 years of age after conch develop their flared lip.
• Reproduction: Queen conch have separate sexes and reproduce through internal fertilization. Both males and females may mate with multiple individuals over the spawning season. Females are able to store eggs for several weeks. Females lay long egg masses that contain hundreds of thousands of eggs on patches of bare sand, or occasionally seagrass. Eggs hatch after about 72 hours.
• Spawning season: Spawning starts in the spring as water temperatures begin to rise and increases in intensity with warmer temperatures during the summer months. A typical season lasts for about six months and peaks from May to September in the Caribbean.
• Spawning grounds: Queen conch migrate to shallower water to spawn in areas of clean coral sand with low organic content.
• Migrations: There is evidence of juvenile conch migrating from shallow water nursery sites to deeper water areas as they mature. In the Bahamas, adults have been observed to move seasonally from sand plains to hard bottom areas. Tagging data has also shown that conch move seasonally in the Florida Keys.
• Predators: The main predators of queen conch include crabs, turtles, sharks, and rays.
• Commercial or recreational interest: Both
• Distinguishing characteristics: The queen conch has a large, conical shell with blunt spikes. The shell is typically orange in color, but looks grey as it is often covered in algae and debris. The inside of the lip ranges from bright orange to pink. The conch has long eye stalks and a large, tube-like mouth called a proboscis that it can pull into its shell if threatened.

Role in the Ecosystem

Additional Information

Market name: Conch
Vernacular name: Pink Conch

Biomass

Biomass refers to the amount of queen conch in the ocean. Scientists cannot collect and weigh every single conch to determine biomass, so they use models to estimate it instead. These biomass estimates can help determine if a stock is being fished too heavily or if it may be able to tolerate more fishing pressure. Managers can then make appropriate changes in the regulations of the fishery. NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center attempted a stock assessment for queen conch in 2007, but data were not adequate to assess the species.

In general, queen conch abundance has declined throughout the species' range as a result of overharvest. The steady decline of conch resulted in the species being listed as commercially threatened by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 1985. Declines in conch abundance persisted causing CITES in 1992 to downgrade the status of queen conch to a listing in Appendix II, which requires signatory nations to manage conch stocks closely, and to monitor exports carefully to prevent extinction of the species. Many nations now have strict regulations regarding harvest of conch, designed to preserve their stocks.

Landings

Landings refer to the amount of catch that is brought to land. In Florida, commercial and sport conch fisheries had completely collapsed by the mid 1970s, primarily due to overharvest. Commercial harvest of queen conch in the Florida Keys was banned in 1975, and a ban on all commercial and recreational harvest of the species was enacted in 1986.

Commercial landings in the U.S.V.I. have been recorded since around the early 1970s. Conch landings in St. Croix increased between 1967 and 1979, when one of the largest levels was recorded at 60,000 pounds. Since 1980, sharp declines began to occur, followed by fluctuations and gaps in information. In the 1990s, large fluctuations continued to occur with average landings around 20,000 pounds. Landings near 73,000 pounds were recorded in 1997-1998. In 1999, landings again decreased to 44,300 pounds. Some fluctuations may be explained by the implementation of management regulations starting in 1984 and inconsistencies in data. Less information is available for landings in St. Thomas and St. John. There was a 5-year closure through 1992 due to overfishing. Thereafter, landings fluctuated around 2,000 to 5,000 pounds between 1993 and 1998. Landings sharply increased to 23,800 pounds in 1999.

In Puerto Rico, landings were fairly stable for the first half of the 1970s, around 70,000 pounds per year. There was a dramatic increase in landings in the late 1970s and early 1980s, reaching 400,000 pounds in 1983. At this time, there was an increase in the number of fishermen, in the use of scuba diving for harvesting, and in fishing further offshore in deeper waters and previously unexploited areas. Landings declined between 1984 and 1992 to 100,000 pounds. Landings again increased since 1993 to nearly 300,000 pounds in 2000.

Biomass and Landings

Are landings and biomass related? Landings are dependent on biomass, management measures in the fishery, and fishing effort.

Data sources:
Landings from the 2007 Caribbean Queen Conch Stock Assessment Report

Important Dates

Mid-1970s – Florida commercial and recreational conch fisheries collapse, primarily due to overharvest
1975 – Commercial harvest of queen conch banned in Florida
1984 – Conch regulations including size and weight limits are first established for St. Croix
1985 – Steady decline of queen conch leads to it being listed as commercially threatened by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
1986 – Commercial and recreational harvest of queen conch banned in Florida
1988 – A 5-year moratorium is put in place for St. Thomas and St. John because of overfishing
1992 – Declines in conch abundance persist; listed in CITES Appendix II, requiring signatory nations to manage conch stocks closely and to monitor exports carefully to prevent extinction of the species; 5-year moratorium is continued for St. Thomas and St. John for 2 more years to allow the stock to recover
1994 – Fishery reopens in St. Thomas and St. John; unified regulations were established for the U.S.V.I. including a closed season, minimum size, requirement that conch must be landed whole and in the shell and the shell must not be disposed of at sea, recreational and commercial harvest quotas, and restrictions of sale of undersized conch shell
1997 – Queen Conch Fishery Management Plan (FMP) implemented, restricting the taking of queen conch in or from the federal waters around Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to restore overfished stocks; "hookah" gear also prohibited
2005 – Amendment 1 to the Queen Conch FMP adds objectives to define the management unit, specify biological reference points and stock status criteria, regulation fishing mortality (possession prohibited except from October 1 through June 30 in an area which includes Land Bank), rebuild overfished stocks, and achieve bycatch and essential fish habitat mandates; landings of conch required to be alive and in shell

Notes and Links

General Information:
NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Protected Resources Queen Conch page

Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Queen Conch Research

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, International Affairs - Queen Conch page

Fishery Management:
Fishery Management Plan for the Queen Conch Resources of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Stock Assessments:
2007 Caribbean Queen Conch Stock Assessment Report