A. Species
Scientific name: Lobatus gigas
Common name(s): Queen conch
Global IUCN Red List Threat Status:
B. Location of use
Geographic location(s):
- Sint Eustatius
- Atlantic - western central
Country/Region:
C. Scale of assessment
Scale of assessment: Sub-national / Sub-region / Sub-State
Name/Details of location: St Eustatius Caribbean Netherlands
D. Timescale of use
Start Year: 1993
End Year: 2013
E. Information about the use
How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Type of use: Extractive
Practice of use: Targeted fishing harvesting/exploiting or collecting wild aquatic resources
Lethal or non-lethal: Lethal
Does this use involve take/extraction of: The whole entire organism
Purpose(s) of end use: Food and feed
Motivation of use: Basic subsistence and Income generation from trade (individual/household/community)
Is this use legal or illegal?: Some use is legal and some is illegal
F. Information about the Users
Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Local people
G. Information about the sustainability of use
Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: CITES NDF Report
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: The NDF proposes a conservative quota that lies within the recommended precautionary limits of 8% of the mean fishable biomass as advised by the CMFC/OSPESCA/WECAFC/CRFM/CITES Working Group on Queen Conch (QCWG). However, this conservative quota will allow the current fishery to operate (“business as usual”) while it will enable local authorities to develop a proper management plan and implement the necessary recommendations with regards to biology, management, control, monitoring, and protection.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined
Details of assessment carried out: CITES NDF Report
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: With respect to volume, value and socio-economic significance, queen conch is the most important species regulated under CITES in the Wider Caribbean region. The population resource base appears sustainable.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: CITES NDF Report
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: With respect to volume, value and socio-economic significance, queen conch is the most important species regulated under CITES in the Wider Caribbean region. The population resource base appears sustainable.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered sustainable
Details of assessment carried out: CITES NDF Report
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Eaten locally with no detrimental effects, although mention was made of an unquantified but low incidence of imposex, which is a disorder in marine snail caused by toxic effects of marine pollutants such as Tributyltin, an anti-fouling agent used on boats.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: No, sustainability not determined
Details of assessment carried out: CITES NDF Report
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Only mentioned in the context of CITES Appendix II requirement that "a Management Authority of the State of introduction is satisfied that any living specimen will be so handled as to minimize the risk of injury, damage to health or cruel treatment."
Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species
A default 8% of the estimated mean or median fishable biomass can be used to set a precautionary sustainable yield if only estimates of biomass are available and the stock is not depleted. To improve co-ordination and effectiveness of various management controls within the region, such as closed fishing seasons, it is important that information on the distribution of maturity and size composition, as well as estimates of fishable biomass are obtained for the conch population and shared amongst relevant States on a regular basis. In the absence of other information, it is appropriate to survey the known fishing area with depth stratification. As better information becomes available, the survey area could be expanded to include additional areas based on habitat which might cover unexploited parts of the population such as juveniles or deeper water spawning stock. In designing new surveys, previous experience of the different countries should be used. Good sampling design should cover at least the fished area, taking account of diver safety. Experienced conch fishers and conch biologists should be used to conduct the surveys. Where a reference point is required for the median or mean, density estimated from surveys, 100 adult conch / ha (or higher) should be used. When the median or mean density falls below this level, there is a significant risk that recruitment might be impaired, and therefore special management action might be required to rebuild density above this level. If unexploited “deep water” biomass is a critical assumption of the harvest strategy, then its presence should be confirmed. Where possible a habitat survey should be undertaken, which can be used to extend the conch survey to get improved estimates of juveniles. Financial resources to carry out necessary management tasks should be raised from the fishing industry, possibly with government support. An export tax provides a useful way for targeted funding and also provides some bioeconomic protection for the stock, since it effectively lowers the price obtained for the product. Integrating fishery surveys with other types of survey may provide another opportunity to reduce costs on remote bank. Catch and effort data should be collected routinely in all fisheries by requiring that the fishing industry provide the necessary information. These data provide abundance information in the absence of surveys, to confirm survey trends or as guidance between infrequent surveys. Importantly, they may provide a lower cost replacement for surveys as an abundance index. It is important that estimates of all fishing mortality are obtained, including local landings and IUU as well as exports. While only one component of these might be measured routinely and accurately, the relative scale of all catches should be known. Well-defined harvest control rules should be developed for each fishery. This may codify current practice or improve current practice, but in all cases they should make management decisions clearer. AMNOGST MANY OTHERS...
Record source
Information about the record source: grey_lit
Date of publication/issue/production: 2014-01-01T00:00:00+0000
Source Reference(s):
Date of record entry: 2023-09-19