Read All About Queen Conch on Bonaire

Adopt a Conch! Read all about Queen Conch on Bonaire

• What is the Conch Restoration Project about?

• The 8 stages in the lifecycle of the queen conch • Queen Conch: the facts of life • Strombus Gigas: science & research • How to contact involved organisations

This presentation is donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org Adopt a Conch! What is the Conch Restoration Project about?

The Queen Conch is an endangered species on Bonaire. To protect the Queen Conch, taking conch became forbidden back in 1985. However, as the conch has been part of the local and regional cuisine for centuries, it is regretfully still rather common to poach the conch. As by the end of 2010 the number of mature conch have reached a critical small number the Conch Restoration Project was developed, which also involves the Bonairean fisherman and community, as a last resort to save the Queen Conch. By working side by side the project helps the Bonaireans realize that they are the custodians of their own resource. Bonaire needs to stops poaching today and thus give the Conch population time to recover so that in future, we all may be able to enjoy the conch again.

The Conch Restoration Project consists of both an extensive awareness campaign for children and adults plus a scientific research program. A team of scientists is gathering information on the habitat and the Queen Conch stock. Last year an inventory has been made of conch in Lac Bay. All conch are tagged in order to identify and follow growth and migration or movements during the project. The conch will be monitored regarding reproduction and health. This all must lead to a restoration of the population of conch in Lac Bay. To inform the Bonaire visitor of the conch restoration program the Bon Kousa Foundation started the awareness program ‘Adopt-a-Conch!’ Please participate in helping the conch: you can adopt your own individually numbered conch and give it a pet-name!! For more info please visit www.conchbonaire.org

The Conch Restoration Program is one of IUCN ‘what if we change’ projects, funded by the Dutch Postcode Lottery. The project in Lac Bay Bonaire is managed by DCNA and Stinapa.

‘Ban trese Karkó bèk!’ Adopt a Conch ! ‘Let’s bring back the conch!’ You can help protect the Leave them alone so we will Queen Conch by adopting have more in the future one of our tagged conch Give the conch a chance to in Lac Bay Bonaire. grow up and reproduce. For more information If you see someone taking conch Adopt a Conch! please visit our website: please phone STINAPA Dear Visitor and Dive friend!! The Queen Conch is endangered species on Bonaire.You can help protect the Queen Conch by adopting one of our at 7171-8444 or 786-9603 scientifi cally tagged conches in Lac Bay Sorobon Bonaire. For more info go to our website: www.conchbonaire.org www.conchbonaire.org www.conchbonaire.org Donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org

This presentation is donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org Adopt a Conch! The 8 stages in the life cycle of the conch

1. Benthic Eggs 0-5 days 2. Newly Hatched Veliger 5-7 days 3. Four Lobed Veliger 7-20 days 4. Six Lobed Veliger 20-30 days

Crescent in shape and camouflaged on the seafloor The newly hatched conch, know as veligers have As the veliger increase in size it grows more lobes By 21–30 days the veliger will have 6 lobes and will by a coating of sand grains. Ready to hatch in lobes on them, the purpose of which is to supply the to supply it with oxygen and food. be ready to metamorphose and enter the benthic 3–5 days. veliger with oxygen and obtain food, in the form of stage of the life cycle. microscopic algae from the water column in which it floats.

Photo: Megan Davis Photo: Megan Davis Photo: Megan Davis Photo: Megan Davis

5. Post larva 1 month 6. Infaunal Juvenile 1-12 months 7. Epifaunal Juvenile 1-3 years 8. Adult 3-25 years

The conch now resembles the adult form although At this stage the conch is between 1 and 12 months The conch is now 1 to 3 years in age and can be 180 The conch is now about 3 to 5 years old and is it is only 1 mm long. The conch will settle, instead old and up to 60 mm in length. The juvenile conch mm in length. They will emerge from their nursery sexually mature. As an adult the conch will no longer of floating in the water column, in shallow seagrass will live buried under the sand it settled in. habitat and start to migrate to deeper waters in increase in size but it will form the ‘lip’ that identifies beds or sand flats. The change in environment will search of food. Conch feed on algae and bacteria it as an adult. For the remainder of its life the conch be sensed and the final stage of metamorphosis, on seaweed. will add shell to this ‘lip’. to lose the lobes, will take place.

Photo: Megan Davis Photo: Tom Smoyer Photo: Sabine Engel Photo: Sabine Engel

This presentation is donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org Adopt a Conch! Queen Conch: the facts of life

The Queen Conch: is a giant sea snail of the the conch shells to pieces trying to eat the a conch fish (type of cardinal fish) sharing ceral mass, and the foot.The conch has two Strombus family, and a member of group prize inside. However, one of the Queen the shell of a living conch. Hermit crabs, pairs of tentacles on the head; it has a light- of animals called molluscs. Molluscs be- Conch’s largest predators in the ocean is juvenile fish or octopus live inside empty sensitive eyespot located on each of the long to the scientific class of Gastropoda. the loggerhead lurtle. With its massive conch shells. larger tentacles. The smaller pair of tenta- Like other members of its class, it carries jaws, the loggerhead turtle crushes the cles is used for smelling and touching. The its home on its back. The Queen Conch adult conch shell to feast on the animal in- Conch sexlife: A conch develops into small brown operculum, which is like a trap is found in warm shallow waters in grass side. Of course the Queen Conch’s largest an adult after about 4 years, and as it door, is located on the foot and looks and beds of the Caribbean Sea and can live 40 predator on land is people. People love to matures the mantle (body) of the snail works a bit like a claw or a pointed toenail. years, but the normal lifespan is estimated eat the conch. pushes on the growing shell, making the Young conchs can bury themselves in the at between 10 to 25 years. opening flare out. This allows the ma- sand when they are in danger, using their Conch shell: The Queen Conch has a beau- ture snail to move along the lagoon floor operculum. Conch predators: Conch have are num- tiful large, spiral shell often lined in pink. with the shell opening flat against the ber of predators and are eaten by many The conch’s mantle, a thin layer of tissue bottom. The conch’s rapid growth slows Conch Diet: Conches eat grasses, algae, animals at different stages of their life. located between the body and the shell, after the snail matures. Conch move and floating organic debris. They eat using Animals such as spotted eagle rays and creates the shell. The conch builds the into deeper water as they mature, but a radula, a rough tongue-like organ that southern rays, octopus, hermit crabs and hard shell from calcium carbonate that it start the life cycle again by returning to has thousands of tiny denticles, tooth-like spiny lobsters all feast on conch. Smaller extracts or takes from the sea. The shell the shallows to mate and lay their eggs. protrusions that look like a chain. predators such as porcupine fish, spotted is up to 1 foot (30 cm) long. The lip of the snails and the blue crab also eat the young shell is flared and there are spines to deter Conch anatomy: The Queen Conch’s body conch. The spiny lobster patiently nibbles its many predators. Sometimes, you’ll find is divided into 3 parts - the head, the vis-

This presentation is donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org Adopt a Conch! Strombus Gigas: science & research

The queen conch, Strombus gigas, is the and also break up its scent trail. The eyes year. As herbivorous gastropods, juveniles The conch meat is processed to remove the loss of important nursery habitats close largest molluscan gastropod (shell length are highly developed and are at the tips of and adults feed on a variety of algae such the thick skin and the white meat is pack- to shore. In 1992, queen conch was listed 7 to 9 inches; 18 to 23 cm) of the six conch two protruding stalks. At the base of the eye as the green sea-weed Batophora oerstedi, aged and frozen in 5-pound (2.3- kg) boxes. in CITES Appendix II and became the first species found in the shallow sea- grass beds stalks is a long proboscis used for grazing or on detritus or diatoms commonly associ- Retail prices for conch range from $6.00 to large-scale fisheries product to be regulated of Florida, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Ca- diatoms and detritus from seagrass leaves ated with the seagrass Thalassia testudinum. $15.00 per pound and continue to increase by CITES. All conch shipments must be ac- ribbean Islands, and the northern coasts and sand grains. During the first couple of years, the juvenile as conch stocks become more threatened. companied by a CITES permit stating that of Central and South America. The queen conch grow longer shells and remain in the Shells, which are a by-product of the meat the exporting country has determined that conch is found in the territorial waters of at Adult conch have separate sexes and are seagrass beds. Juveniles do not have flared market, are sold as curios and souvenirs in the specimens have been legally acquired least 36 countries and dependent territories. sexually mature at about 4 years, after the lip lips and are sometimes referred to as rollers. the U.S., Europe and the Caribbean for $5.00 and that the trade is sustainable. It is known by various names, such as cara- has fully flared. Conch are found at a 1:1 sex As the flaring lip begins to form, the sub- to $20.00 each. col (Mexico, Honduras, Columbia), carrucho ratio in unfished populations. Queen conch adult conch migrate to deeper water near Some locations, including the Bahamas, (Puerto Rico), cobo (Cuba), and lambi (His- form large spawning aggregations. Fertiliza- the reef tract and form spawning aggrega- The United States is the largest importer of Puerto Rico and Florida, have established paniola, French Antilles). tion is internal. The typical 6- to 8-month tions. Queen conch are estimated to have a conch from the Caribbean and, in fact, im- no-fishing zones or marine protected areas egg-laying season is March to October, with life span of 25 years. Old conch have thick ports approximately 78 percent of the conch (MPA) to help conserve the queen conch and Many studies have focused on fisheries man- most activity occurring from July to Septem- lips and are often called samba conch. meat in the international trade. About 1 other ecologically important species. These agement, ecology and culture techniques of ber when water temperatures are the warm- million pounds (458,000 kg) was imported types of management efforts, along with re- S. gigas. In the mid-1970s, culturists began est (82 to 86 °F; 28 to 30 °C). The female lays Fisheries and regulations in 2004, mostly from the Turks and Caicos gional fisheries plans and enforcement, will growing queen conch larvae to the juve- an average of nine egg masses per season; For hundreds of years, queen conch have Islands (Trade Database: www.cites.org). Im- help this important species recover. nile stage for stock enhancement and for each crescent-shaped egg mass contains been harvested as a subsistence food source ports were as high as 4 to 5 million pounds grow-out markets as a way to offset fishing approximately 400,000 eggs. The thin, sticky and the shells used for ship ballast, tribal in 2002 and 2003 when Honduras and Do- There is considerable interest in the culture pressure. The same culture techniques have strand of eggs is covered with sand grains tools, building materials, jewelry and deco- minican Republic contributed more than of the queen conch to supplement dwin- been used to study larval ecology and fish- to camouflage it from predators during the ration. Beginning in the 1970s, the queen 50 percent of the supply to the U.S. In 2003, dling natural populations. Research began eries oceanography, which contribute to the 3- to 4-day incubation period. After the eggs conch commercial fishery developed in re- CITES (Convention for the International in the 1970s in Los Roques, Venezuela, and development of regional fisheries manage- hatch, the planktotrophic veligers (larvae) sponse to the rapid growth of tourism in the Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna in the 1980s several labs in the region made ment plans. drift in the water column for 2 to 8 weeks, Caribbean and the increased international and Flora) mandated a temporary closure significant contributions to queen conch depending on phytoplankton concentra- demand for the meat. Dishes such as conch of the fisheries in these countries until the culture (e.g., University of Puerto Rico, Uni- Natural history tion, temperature, and the proximity of fritters, chowder and salad are specialties stocks increase and a sustainable fisheries versity of Miami, Foundation for PRIDE the The adult of this slow-moving mollusc has a settlement habitat. When the veligers are on menus throughout the region. Queen plan is put into place. This multilateral envi- Turks and Caicos Islands, USAID in Belize, heavy shell (5 pounds; 2.3 kg) with spines on morphologically and physiologically ready, conch is considered one of the most impor- ronmental organization protects and regu- Marcultura on Bonaire). In 1984, the first each whorl of the spire and a glossy, deep they metamorphose into benthic animals tant benthic fisheries, second only to spiny lates species to ensure that international commercial conch farm was established in pink, flared aperture. The orange-yellow in response to trophic cues from their sea- lobster. commercial trade does not threaten their the Turks and Caicos Islands. mantle, located around the soft body of the grass juvenile habitat. survival in the wild. conch, secretes the shell. The hardened tip Conch are typically fished using snorkel Today, queen conch laboratories in Mexico (the operculum) at the end of the single, Most conch nursery grounds are in sea- gear. Once landed on the boat, the shells The depletion of conch stocks has necessi- (e.g., CINVESTAV-IPN) and Florida (e.g., Flor- black-speckled foot propels the conch for- grass meadows less than 20 feet (6 m) are removed and discarded onto shell piles tated management regulations such as total ida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commis- ward in a “hopping” motion referred to as a deep, where the sea-grass density is 56 to called “middens.” The conch meat is about fisheries closures (e.g., in Florida since 1986), sion, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Insti- strombid leap. 84 Thalassia shoots per square foot (600 to 7 to 8 percent of the total range weight of annual quotas, size regulations, and the pro- tution, and Mote Marine Laboratories) are 900/m2). Juveniles have also been found the animal, ranging from 0.19 to 0.5 pounds hibition of scuba diving. While overfishing conducting conch research and education This movement is thought to help the in algal flats and on deep banks. The juve- (85 to 228 g). The fisherman receives $1.00 is the primary cause of the decline, habitat programs. conch make a quick escape from predators niles remain buried for most of their first to $3.00 per conch as a wholesale price. degradation may also be a factor, especially © 2000 Megan Davis

This presentation is donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org Adopt a Conch! How to reach involved organisations

Adopt a Conch: DCNA: Stinapa: Postcode Loterij: IUCN-NL: What if we change: Bon Kousa: is a nature awareness and the Dutch Caribbean is dedicated to the conser- the Dutch National International Union for is the story about how we the Bon Kousa Foundation conservation project of Nature Allicance assist and vation of Bonaire’s natural Postcode Lottery donates Conservation of Nature, can re-green the planet. helps other non-profit the Bon Kousa Foundation, support nature conserva- and historical heritage 50% of her proceeds to helps the world find prag- An interactive storytelling organisations to realize a registered non-profit tion activities on each of through the sustainable charity. They support matic solutions to the most project. culture & nature awareness organisation on Bonaire. the Islands of the Dutch use of its resources. 81 organisations. pressing environment and and conservation projects. Caribbean. development challenges.

DCNA fundashon bon kousa Adopt a Conch! DUTCH CARIBBEAN NATURE ALLIANCE Bon Kousa Foundation #9 Sabadeco Shores www.conchbonaire.org www.dcnanature.org www.stinapa.org www.postcodeloterij.nl www.iucn.org www.whatifwechange.org www.bonkousa.org

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This presentation is donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org