Government officials, environmentalists, and scientists caution that overfishing is causing the conch population in the Bahamas to decline. One type of marine animal having a shell is the conch. It is crucial to the economy and diet of the Bahamas. Tereha Davis’s family has fished for conch across the Bahamas for five generations. The 49-year-old Davis recalls a time when she was able to go into the water and retrieve marine snails from the bottom. However, Davis and other conch fishermen have had to fish farther offshore in order to obtain conch in recent years. It can travel up to 48 kilometers at times.
It’s commonly known that conch is the national dish of the Bahamas. The most significant food species is the 30-year-old queen conch. In the US and elsewhere, conch can be extremely expensive. However, it is so ubiquitous in the Bahamas that it is frequently found in less than $10 dinners. That is less expensive than a lot of the island’s meats. According to a 2021 study, over 25% of people living in rural areas of the Bahamas consume conch on a weekly basis. There are 9,000 conch fishers in the nation of around 400,000 people, or about 2% of the total population. According to a study that was published in Fisheries Management and Ecology, this number seems to be staying constant despite the decline in conches.
In addition to bringing in millions of dollars annually, conch meat contributes to the islands’ increased tourism. Conchs are typically caught by hand by divers. They frequently make use of basic tools including flippers, a snorkel, and a mask. Divers have been known to bring up to 1,000 conches with them from a single excursion. Although many divers also pursue other species, including snapper, they consider themselves first and foremost conch fishermen. In addition, a lot of people saw fishing as a means of advancing into middle class living on the islands, where costs of living are higher than in the United States.
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