Turks and Caicos delays conch season to assess hurricane damage

The conch fishing season in the Turks and Caicos Islands opened one month later than usual, in response to the need to assess the damage done by recent hurricanes in the region.

In Turks and Caicos, the conch season normally opens on 15 October, but the country’s Department of Environment and Coastal Resources (DECR) announced this year that it would open on 15 November. This has allowed its staff time to “assess the status of the fishing industry and stocks of conch on the banks,” according to the local newspaper Turks and Caicos Weekly News.

The queen conch (strombus gigas) is the second-largest fishery in the Turks and Caicos, according to a 2012 FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Report, generating revenues of USD 4 to 5 million (EUR 3.4 to 4.2 million) annually. The Turks and Caicos exports 500,000 lbs. (226.8 metric tons) of conch annually, with the U.S. being the country's main export market.

"This decision was not taken lightly,” Minister of Tourism, Environment, Heritage and Culture Ralph Higgs told the Weekly News. “We have taken into account the potential hardship over the short period that this decision could have on livelihoods; however, this decision is made with the best interest of the long term sustainability of the sector and in the best interest of our fishermen.”

According to the newspaper, the DECR is conducting high-level, rapid damage assessments of the fishery, and has meet with fishers, scientific experts, and fishery management members to confirm the start of the conch export season and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) quota for the 2017-2018 season.

Compliance with CITES standards for fisheries management is essential if Turks and Caicos is to continue exporting to countries that are signatories to CITES. The U.S. became a party to CITES in 1974.

The FAO report noted that “in recent years, with the rapid expansion of international markets and the increase in local demand created by the tourism industry, the conch stocks in [Turks and Caicos] face increased pressures. Fishing pressures have been exacerbated by habitat degradation and further complications posed by hurricanes Ike and Hannah in 2008.”

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