Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, 31 July 2026 (CRFM)— The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), in collaboration with the Turks and Caicos Islands Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources Management (DFMRM), is supporting a regional technical mission this week to strengthen the sustainable management of the Caribbean's valuable queen conch fishery.

The mission brings together fisheries scientists and technical experts from the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Jamaica National Fisheries Authority (NFA) and the United Kingdom to advance stock assessment methods, review fisheries data, conduct field activities, and engage stakeholders in developing science-based management measures.

The initiative supports the Turks and Caicos Islands Government's commitment to sustainable fisheries and resilient coastal livelihoods by strengthening the scientific foundation for the long-term management of one of the country's most economically and culturally important marine resources. It also reinforces regional cooperation and knowledge exchange among Caribbean fisheries institutions.

Kathy Lockhart, the Assistant Director of the DFMRM, expressed appreciation for the collaboration and highlighted the valuable contribution of Dr. Paul Medley who had completed the queen conch stock assessment and developed options for management including Harvest Control Rules. She is also looking forward to continued collaboration with the Jamaica NFA and the completion of a queen conch underwater survey in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Through initiatives such as this, the CRFM continues to work with its Member States and partners to promote sustainable fisheries, healthy marine ecosystems and prosperous coastal communities across the Caribbean.

An Assessment of the Reproductive Activity of Queen Conch (Aliger gigas) in Captive and Wild Populations in the Discovery Bay Special Fishery Conservation Area, Jamaica

Shanna- Lee Thomas¹, Camilo Trench¹, Dale Webber², and Mona Webber³

Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory, The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica¹;
Centre for Marine Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica²;
Department of Life Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica³
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ABSTRACT

Jamaica’s Queen conch closed-season is based on a temperature-influenced annual spawning activity derived using data from other Caribbean countries. No reproductive and spawning season determination had previously been done for Jamaica. With rising sea surface temperatures and increasing temperature variability across the region, it may be necessary to revise annual closed seasons. Our study therefore sought to design assessments of conch reproductive activity in relation to sea temperatures. Adult Queen conch (mean lip thickness 16.9 mm) were tagged and stocked at a ratio of 2:3 males to females in 50m2 pens in substrate consisting of seagrass, rubble and coarse sand within the Discovery Bay Fish Sanctuary. These were observed for 7 months in 2022 to indicate densities and temperatures at which spawning occurred. Prior to stocking, conch abundance surveys were conducted between July and August 2020 at six sites in the bay and these were repeated at the end of the stocking experiment in November 2022. Data collected from the penned conch included the number of occurrences of mating, pairing and spawning, the presence of egg masses, and temperature for both captive and wild conch (found adjacent to the pens). Conch displayed 8 occasions of spawning (one female spawning 5 times) with 2 occasions of pairing and 1 mating occasion. Peak spawning activity was recorded in August and September, with maximum sea water temperature of 30.65°C. Mean temperatures across Jamaica’s north coast showed an increase between May to October, and decreased thereafter. Conch abundance surveys conducted in 2021 and 2022 in the bay indicated densities of 10.1 ha-1 and 7.5 ha-1 respectively with populations dominated by juveniles and sub-adults. The protocols developed in Discovery Bay will be expanded to other areas around Jamaica with the expectation that these findings will help inform measures to manage conch stocks in Jamaica’s SFCAs towards sustainable harvesting in nearby fishing grounds.

HOW TO CITE: Thomas, S-L., C. Trench, D. Webber and M. Webber, 2026. An Assessment of the Reproductive Activity of Queen Conch (Aliger gigas) in Captive and Wild Populations in the Discovery Bay Special Fishery Conservation Area, Jamaica. Contribution 6.3, p399-413 IN CRFM, 2026. Volume I: Technical Papers. Presented at the CRFM 20th Anniversary Scientific Conference, 28-31 August 2023. CRFM Special Publication No. 37, CRFM Secretariat https://www.crfm.int/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=933

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