Why A Conch Farm Is Leading Conservation Efforts

By Kevin Myers


Mariculture or aquaculture has steadily developed in the Bahamas region and on the entire archipelago based Caribbean Sea countries. Some of the earliest species to have been taken into in these kinds of projects are now thriving successfully. And this success has paved the way for even better facilities for protecting marine species while making them commercially viable.

Some of these are conches, one of these being the Caribbean Queen, which has been a good part of human diets in the region for a very long time. Conch farm in Turks and Caicos has made many scientific and technological advances to rehabilitate the said species while practicing excellent seafarming. It is a model many are following and it is accessible online.

TCI authorities are doing a joint venture with the companies that are leading the field, and this bode well for the complete recovery of a species that is still overfished throughout the area. Unregulated hunting for the longest time means that there are less of them in the wild than ever. Because of the farms, the conches have now a fighting chance for survival.

The specialists in these farms developed a system of farming them through offshore cages that are deeply submerged. It is a revolutionary technique that is applicable to native finned fishes that are also in danger from overfishing. The TCI government and its partner companies are now developing conch farming techniques for farming cobia, snapper, grouper and pompano.

The pioneer places are stimulating the TCI economy with a great source of animal protein that remains affordable and the creation of more jobs for locals. Also, the wild conches are getting some kind of relief from the commercial operations. These are systems that run on excellent technical capabilities with the hatcheries and submerged deep sea cages.

For the Caicos group, the main specie being addressed is the strombus gigas, but diversification is ongoing. The aquaculture revolution here is ongoing, and now has things that make it an industry that is friendly to the environment. When completed, the new project can enable TCI to be one of the most successful seafaming countries worldwide.

The areas for these farms were chosen for having steady currents in deep waters. These places are best for the largescale undersea farms being projected. Conches in the Caribbean, however, are still being fished and hunted in a scale that endangers them. If not for the efforts behind the sea farms, they will face extinction sooner.

The farming operations are becoming highly attractive places for interested conservationists and concerned people to visit. The companies do not like for their operations to become tourism intensive even as the islands has a good industry in this regard. A limited number of tours and visits are now accepted, which is something of heaven for a certain type of eco activist.

The seafarming method has achieved a lot of things that is now being studied for application on other places. Despite the fact that the tech developed here is for warmer seas, these can be adapted. There are a number of good websites to further study this topic.




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