Sovereign Conch: All about the Queen Conch!
Queen conch being held by a researcher (Jennifer Doerr, NOAA SEFSC Galveston)
On the shallow and warm shores of beaches and seagrass beds, there sits an unassuming but beautiful whorl-shaped and pink shell. Inside this shell, there is a soft-bodied brown snail with excellent vision and a muscular foot that helps them ‘hop’ across the seafloor in search of a meal.
Queen conch or Aliger gigas, is a large, slow-growing, and late - maturing gastropod mollusk found in the shallow waters of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Keys, and near Bermuda. Queen conchs grow their own calcium carbonate shells and can grow up to one foot in length and weigh around five pounds, making them one of the largest herbivorous snails in the Western Hemisphere (Key West Aquarium).
The queen conch has been an integral part of the culture and way of life in many coastal communities for millennia. Indigenous communities in South Florida, such as the Tequesta, the Carib, the Arawak, and the Taíno, utilized queen conch shells to craft tools, jewelry, cookware, and used them as blowing horns. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, conch became a symbol of freedom for emancipated slaves, and the shell is even used in religious ceremonies (NOAA Fisheries). Many support conch aquaculture not only as a source of food, but also as a provider of socio-economic opportunities and ecosystem benefits for millions of people. Some of these ecosystem benefits include algae control, sediment stabilization, and being prey for larger predators (Coral Reef Alliance, 2023).
In Pedro Bank, Jamaica, local fishermen dive into the sea from April to August to harvest the reigning queen of the sea by hand. These fishermen use free diving, scuba diving, or tankless dive gear to gather mature conches. The queen conch is one of Jamaica’s most important fisheries and has received the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for sustainable fishing, making it the first and only MSC-certified queen conch fishery in the world (Serju, 2023). Outside of Jamaica, the love for conch runs deep in other countries too. The queen conch appears on The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos coat of arms, and the national dish of The Bahamas is cracked conch with peas and rice. It is said that local communities throughout the Caribbean build their livelihoods around the harvesting and sale of the conch (National Wildlife Federation).
Rio Grande River, Portland, Jamaica – Patrick Baugh (26 February 2016)
My father’s family hails from Fruitful Vale, Portland Parish, Jamaica. This rural region is renowned for its lush environment, stunning mountainous scenery, and the Rio Grande. It is here that my family would grow various produce, such as green bananas, cocoa, coffee, yams, and more, to sell at major markets. Along with their agricultural land, they caught crayfish and bussu (snail) in the river that ran through their property and cooked their catch over an open wood fire. Farmers like my grandfather would load up all the crops they had grown over the year or several months to sell at the Port Antonio Market on weekends. My uncle Sammy often accompanied him to spend all day at the market. This market was how my family and many other locals sustained themselves, selling produce and purchasing other goods, such as livestock, red snapper, and saltfish, to bring back home. It is at this market that local fishermen sell queen conch.
However, in 2024, NOAA Fisheries listed the queen conch as threatened under the Endangered Species Act due to overfishing, habitat destruction, climate change, and lack of effective policies or regulations. The Nature Conservancy has stated there are not enough mature conches in the waters to reproduce and sustain themselves for the future. There are now limited harvesting seasons, commercial quotas, and size limits in place to combat conch overfishing. enforcing these regulations remains challenging, particularly for small boats that may not report their catches.
In response to the endangered designation, small-scale farms and hatcheries, such as the Queen Conch Lab, have community-based facilities that promote sustainable practices, boost local economies, and conserve marine biodiversity. Dr. Megan Davis of Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute runs the Queen Conch Lab. Dr. Davis repopulates overfished Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and establishes conch hatcheries for conservation education, research, restoration, and community-based training (Global Seafood Alliance, 2021).
The Jamaica Conch Restoration Project aims to maintain queen conch hatcheries and nurseries throughout the island, and to hatch and release over 5,000 conch per year.
Similarly, The Nature Conservancy and The Bahamas Department of Marine Resources applied FishPath to engage with stakeholders’ perspectives on queen conch fisheries and to analyze data. The tool enabled scientists and local fishers to share knowledge and learn from each other in a transparent manner.
Despite numerous organizations working to conserve the depleted populations of queen conchs, an article in the journal Oryx explores the controversies surrounding conch aquaculture. The authors argue that it is infeasible to replace and replenish wild harvest populations of queen conch using existing aquaculture methods. The article states that queen conch aquaculture is beneficial for scientific inquiry and community engagement, but not for population restoration without more practical and cost-efficient methods (Kough et al., 2025). The most significant hurdle for queen conch aquaculture is their high natural mortality rate, which exceeds 95% annually in natural juvenile nurseries. With species recovery in mind, there must be an interdisciplinary, holistic approach, and with a greater focus on managing the natural breeding of queen conch populations.
While increased storm frequency and climate change will continue to impact queen conch fisheries, new technologies such as Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA), mobile labs, and community-based programs are helping to pave the way for conch restoration. In the National Wildlife Federation article, Dr. Davis thinks the best route forward is to pursue as many paths as possible. In which I would agree, everyone has their niche and can use those skills to take a deep dive into the queen conch’s world!
meet THE AUTHOR
Takyra Baugh
B.s. from University of Minnesota & 2025 MIA Summer intern
