Abstract

Queen conch fisheries are important throughout the Caribbean, yet most stocks have been seriously overfished, such that conch has been listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Ecosystem-based management (EBM) offers the possibility of sustaining conch fisheries by addressing aspects of conch biology that directly support production and are otherwise overlooked in quota-based management. Adherence to first principles concerning the maintenance of ecosystem health and a precautionary approach should guide management considerations. For queen conch, critical EBM goals are the maintenance of adult density (especially with respect to reproduction), nursery areas and water/habitat quality. Consideration must also be given to the limits of connectivity through larval dispersal, predator-prey interactions (and the management of other species) and the factors that enhance vulnerability to exploitation. Resulting management strategies would seek to protect adults and juvenile nursery areas through the banning of fishing during the peak of the reproductive season, banning the harvest of small juveniles, integrating fisheries management with coastal zone management to protect nearshore areas and the establishment of a network of marine reserves. Monitoring of the stock and fishery (including comparisons with protected populations and the development of a spatial GIS database) should be used to track and set the level of catch.

The Problem

In the Caribbean, as elsewhere, fisheries management has become more complex, as both the scale of ecosystem exploitation and the nature and extent of anthropogenic impacts have increased (Appeldoorn 2008). Given that much of the region consists of island states with narrow shelves subjected to coastal and land-based activities and resource impacts, the merging of fisheries management and coastal zone management is a trend that is perhaps long overdue. Additionally, fisheries management is hindered by difficulties in data acquisition and analysis due to the high diversity but relative low abundance of species caught, the variety of gears and landing sites, and limited capacity of national and regional agencies. At the same time, many key Caribbean resources, especially those associated with reef environments, are closely tied in space and time to the benthic habitats that provide food and shelter.