Researchers are worried about a continuing decline of the Queen Conch - noticeable also in the Floridan waters. Some decades ago, there have been millions of Queen conchs around Key West, Florida. Now these large snails are restricted to roughly 40'000 animals around Florida. Despite of a commercial harvesting ban in Florida since 1975, and despite of a total harvesting ban since 1986, their numbers seem still falling. Somewhat ironically, the Key West's nickname is the Conch Republic, and Key West native inhabitants are sometimes called "conchs".
The dwindling conch numbers inspired scientists and environmentalists to found the first U.S. conch breeding farm in the Florida Keys, as media articles reported recently. This aquaculture research facility should be able to initially release around 4000 to 5000 baby snails per year into the Key West area. Early November, the Key West Conch Baby Farm has officially opened its doors, and it is scheduled to open to the public in January. The scientists belong to an international consortium that is dedicated to save this species and to advance a wise management for its use: the Conch Heritage Network.
Female Queen conch can lay up to 500'000 eggs several times a year, thus small babies might be raised in quite large numbers. In a natural situation, however, most of these babies will probably be eaten by predators, which lowers the chance that many of them would reach the adult stage. As the animal grows and matures slowly, it takes about four years to reach its reproductive stage. The first attempt to breed Queen conch (and take some of the pressure from the wild populations) has been carried out at the Caicos Conch Farm in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Founded in the year 1984, this farm is said to produce now around 750'000 Queen conchs annually.
Because Queen conch exploitation from populations in Honduras, Haiti and the Dominican Republic are at an unsustainable level, the international trade and import of Strombus shells from these countries has recently been prohibited by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). The species Strombus gigas is listed on CITES II.
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