Melody
Sep 29th 2007, 10:49 AM
An elaborate, international network of Queen Conch smugglers worked together to smuggle tons of meat around the World. The Queen Conch meat came into Canada via Haiti, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Columbia and Honduras. Quebec City, Halifax, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver investigators have been working on the bust since March of 2006, in cooperation with US officials. 12 charges were laid against Pacific Marine Union Corporation of Vancouver and 27 metric tons of Queen Conch meat was siezed.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) (http://www.cites.org/) has listed the Queen Conch (Strombus gigas) on the Red List since 1990. Lee Newman of the Vancouver Aquarium describes it as "Sort of a huge marine snail". They help maintain balance by eating seagrass & other plants and also stir the sediment.
S. gigas is also an important part of the food chain, feeding many species. The conch builds the hard shell from calcium carbonate extracted from the sea and can be up to a foot long. The shell has spines to deter its many predators.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f9/Conch_shell_2.jpg/250px-Conch_shell_2.jpg
{Photo: Open source, Wikipedia}
The Queen Conch is vulnerable because they take 3-5 years to mature and they reside in shallow waters (less than 70 feet deep), which makes them easy pickings. You can even see their shell spines sticking out of the water at low tide. They're valued as a food source and to make jewellry and instruments. They also have significance in some religions.
All harvest in Florida waters and adjacent Federal waters has been banned since the mid-1980s. Populations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are managed under local regulations and a Fishery Management Plan for queen conch developed by the Caribbean Fishery Management Council. You may import queen conch into the United States from parts of the Caribbean not subject to the trade prohibitions, provided it is allowed by the country of export and it is accompanied by any required CITES documents.
My first thought was that it would be awesome, if one had the tank space, to raise these creatures in aquaria for release. However, when that was attempted, it was discovered that the captive-raised Conch lacks the instinct to avoid predators.
Being a big believer in education as a means of protection for threatened species, I decided to post about the smuggling and why it is necessary to protect these creatures. I encourage everyone to educate others when the opportunity presents itself, especially when these laws are broken. Its important that people understand the impact that breaking protection laws has.
Sources: US Fish & Wildlife Service, The Province, Enchanted Learning.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) (http://www.cites.org/) has listed the Queen Conch (Strombus gigas) on the Red List since 1990. Lee Newman of the Vancouver Aquarium describes it as "Sort of a huge marine snail". They help maintain balance by eating seagrass & other plants and also stir the sediment.
S. gigas is also an important part of the food chain, feeding many species. The conch builds the hard shell from calcium carbonate extracted from the sea and can be up to a foot long. The shell has spines to deter its many predators.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f9/Conch_shell_2.jpg/250px-Conch_shell_2.jpg
{Photo: Open source, Wikipedia}
The Queen Conch is vulnerable because they take 3-5 years to mature and they reside in shallow waters (less than 70 feet deep), which makes them easy pickings. You can even see their shell spines sticking out of the water at low tide. They're valued as a food source and to make jewellry and instruments. They also have significance in some religions.
All harvest in Florida waters and adjacent Federal waters has been banned since the mid-1980s. Populations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are managed under local regulations and a Fishery Management Plan for queen conch developed by the Caribbean Fishery Management Council. You may import queen conch into the United States from parts of the Caribbean not subject to the trade prohibitions, provided it is allowed by the country of export and it is accompanied by any required CITES documents.
My first thought was that it would be awesome, if one had the tank space, to raise these creatures in aquaria for release. However, when that was attempted, it was discovered that the captive-raised Conch lacks the instinct to avoid predators.
Being a big believer in education as a means of protection for threatened species, I decided to post about the smuggling and why it is necessary to protect these creatures. I encourage everyone to educate others when the opportunity presents itself, especially when these laws are broken. Its important that people understand the impact that breaking protection laws has.
Sources: US Fish & Wildlife Service, The Province, Enchanted Learning.