Conch Smuggling in the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

Conch Smuggling
A story in the Bahama Journal last week talked about a black market for conch exports. It said Marine Resources Director Michael Braynen was working with US government officials to curb the smuggling of thousands of pounds of conch from the Bahamas to South Florida.

The story originated in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Reporter Alexia Campbell said State and federal wildlife authorities were investigating a network of conch smugglers who evade international rules regulating the commercial trade of queen conch. 

According to Campbell, the smugglers buy conch in the Bahamas for resale in South Florida. "They buy it on the black market at $4 a pound in the Bahamas," he reported, "and sell it to local restaurants and markets for up to $16 a pound, which is below market price here.

"The practice is depleting the Bahamian conch population, and putting unsuspecting consumers at risk of illness. At least six people have been indicted in South Florida in the past year for illegally importing conch."

In the US smugglers face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of illegally importing wildlife and conspiring to illegally import wildlife. If a Bahamian is caught illegally exporting conch he can be fined up to $5,000 or face time in prison.

"US demand for conch delicacies is largely to blame for overfishing and illegal sales," according to theSun-Sentinel. "By 1985, most of Florida's conch had been plucked from its shallow waters, leading to a statewide ban on conch fishing. The United States now is the largest consumer of imported conch, buying more than 80 percent of the conch available for international trade."

The Journal story said Michael Braynen acknowledged that conch populations in the Bahamas were being overfished and that his department was looking at ways to better manage conch stocks. This is despite the fact that conch has been legally exported from the Bahamas for years - almost 600,000 pounds last year alone.

 Efforts are currently underway to determine the status and sizes of the stocks, and to review and implement new regulations governing the harvesting of the species. Conch exports were banned until 1992, and since the ban was lifted, there has been a significant increase in conch landings. 

In the past few decades, intense fishing pressure has led to the collapse of the conch fishery throughout the region. This has resulted in the temporary or permanent closure of the fishery in Cuba, Florida, Bermuda, the Netherlands Antilles, Colombia, Mexico, the Virgin Islands and Venezuela.

"Closing off legal exports would reduce the pressure on local conch populations," Braynen told me. "Conch exports are still allowed because of the expressed 'necessity' of doing so from fishermen who 'need' the income, after the local demand for conch has been met."

Surely it makes little sense to allow the export hundreds of thousands of pounds of conch meat every year, while complaining about the decline of this key Bahamian fishery.

Comments

[Martha Davis]

For more information on the status of conch in the Bahamas, please refer to:http://www.communityconch.org/our-research/. The technical brief available there summarizes three years of research and presents management recommendations.

[larry smith]

Highlights of the research mentioned above:

Fishing pressure on the queen conch has grown along with the rising demand for seafood and the increased use of hookahs.

As a result, juveniles are being harvested illegally and previously inaccessible deep-water stocks are being exploited, leaving no refuge for reproduction of the species.

Conch densities are decreasing in commercially fished areas to levels that will not sustain the populations.

Conch densities in the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park have dropped 35 per cent over the last 20 years, and further decline is expected.

Queen conch populations are rapidly declining below the critical thresholds for reproduction, and they are being harvested before reaching sexual maturity.

The Exuma park is not big enough to support a self-sustaining conch population. And a single reserve such as the ECLSP cannot produce sufficient larvae to protect the species when the population is being heavily exploited outside the reserve.

A network of marine reserves is needed to provide a chain of reproductive sources.

Release of hatchery-reared conch in Florida, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas has not been successful in rebuilding stock - natural populations need to be conserved.

New management policies required: stop or tax exports, set closed season from July 1 to September 30, set catch quotas, set lip thickness criteria of 15mm, ban use of hookah for conch, expand marine reserve system to include prime conch habitat, support sustainably caught conch co-ops, implement public education campaigns.