Cape Eleuthera is home to a diverse assortment of sea life, including eagle rays, lemon sharks, loggerhead turtles, and more. Though these charismatic animals are often the ones that draw tourists, for Bahamians, the creature most synonymous with the Cape is the humble conch. 

In alignment with The Island School’s central mission to live well in a place, the Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) recently began conservation research on queen conch while working with young researchers in tandem with The Island School Semester program. Every term, Semester students work on Research Projects with the scientists at CEI, and this spring, nine Island School students have joined the conch research project on a quest to know more about conch populations in South Eleuthera.

What Are Conch and What Do They Look Like?

Conch, pronounced “konk,” are a type of sea snail. They are invertebrates with soft, fleshy inner cores and self-created hard outer shells, and they are native to The Bahamas and other island nations in the Caribbean and West Indies; as well as the Florida Keys. The queen conch (Aliger gigas) is the most common species of conch in The Bahamas. The exterior of their shells ranges from brown to light orange in color, is cone-shaped and covered in pyramid-like spikes, while the interior is marked by a glossy, flaring pink lip. The conch animal itself is slug-like in texture and look, except for its hard brown nail, which helps it move along the sandy seabed.

Why Are Conch Important To The Ecosystem?

Queen conch are an important part of the food chain—they themselves are herbivores, eating algae and other marine plants, but they are preyed on by all sorts of sea creatures, including turtles, sharks, eagle rays, lobsters, and crabs. Importantly, they control algae growth along the seabed, and they are a significant food source for many of the vulnerable marine species listed above. They are harder for predators to eat once they reach adulthood because their shells get thicker as they age, but, fun fact: nurse sharks can suck the invertebrate straight from its shell more easily than a human can get the animal out with tools!

What is The Cultural Significance of Conch In The Bahamas?

Conch has been a staple in Bahamian cuisine since the islands were first inhabited by the Lucayan people  over 1,300 years ago. In addition to eating the animal, indigenous peoples also made good use of their shells, carving them into tools, horns, and sacred objects. Today, conch are still considered a delicacy throughout the archipelago—Bahamians eat them grilled, fried, stewed, in chowder, and as ceviche. Conch fishing is an honorable profession, in which, often over generations of families, fishermen free dive to collect the snail. Notably, 2% of the Bahamian population (roughly 10,000 out of 400,000) identify as conch fishers. It is one of the pillars of local wealth, as it circulates just over three million dollars throughout the nation’s economy, though that number is likely underreported due to lack of a formal reporting structure. More fun facts: a conch holds a prominent place on the national coat of arms, and it is widely recognized as the national dish!

Are Conch Populations At RiSK?

Sadly, yes—conch are listed as a threatened species under U.S. Federal law, enacted in February 2024 under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). 

In an effort to protect the population, the Bahamian government instituted fishing regulations for visitors and non-residents of The Bahamas. Here are some of the by-laws:

-No harvesting, possession, or sale of conch without a well-formed flaring lip (at least 15mm thick).

-Foreign sports fishermen with a valid sport fishing permit are limited to six conch per visiting vessel.

-Conch cannot be harvested with the aid of scuba gear.

-Bahamian citizens’ catch cannot exceed 250 pounds per day. Otherwise, a commercial fishing permit is required.

Who is Protecting Conch?

The aforementioned regulations are extremely key in conch protection, but by no means do they operate as a fix-all. There are many non-governmental entities working to protect the species, including the Cape Eleuthera Institute.

CEI is currently working alongside Florida Atlantic University and leading conch scientist Dr. Megan Davis through the Queen Conch Lab to find innovative ways to save and restore queen conch populations. Island School Semester students are playing an important role in conch conservation through their conch research group.

What Is This Project Doing To Help Queen Conch Populations?

In an effort to highlight Island School Semester students’ contribution to ongoing conch conservation, students were asked to explain the ways in which they are helping in their own words.

Lucy Lawson: In 2018, there was a Marine Protected Area (MPA) proposed for the area around South Eleuthera, however it has not been put in place yet (20 by 20 White Paper: Marine Protection Plan). We need to collect an accurate assessment of the current conch population in South Eleuthera so that we know whether an MPA would be effective for the conservation of queen conch in this area. For our research project, we will be assessing the long-term population trends of queen conch in the South Eleuthera area and potentially propose regulations for a MPA depending on the results.

Winston Ochs: The primary objective of our project is to determine the population densities of queen conch off the coast of South Eleuthera, comparing it to previous studies. For example, a study from 2018 “completed 503 radial surveys and located 4773 queen conch, representing an overall density of 302 conch ha−1.”¹ We expect to find a notable decrease in the conch densities since this study. We’ll also measure the lip thickness and shell length of all the conch we find, helping to determine whether the organism is a juvenile, sub-adult, or full adult of the species for most accurate data. 

Eliana Ormeño: Our research utilized two open water surveilling techniques, radial survey and transect belt surveys. To conduct a radial survey, we used stratified random sampling of a given area and collected the conch present in a 10-meter radius circle. The collected conch were assessed for their shell length and lip thickness to successfully categorize them by age. For the belt transect method we utilized a manta tow device attached to the back of our research boat. A transect with a six-meter width and a 1000m length was visually surveyed, and the number of conch and apparent age documented. 

Keagan Roye: We have been using radial surveys using a belt transect and counting and measuring the siphonal lengths and lip thicknesses of the conch found within the circles. The surveys consist of using a belt transect to measure out a circle with a 10-meter radius and collecting all conch found within that circle. Another method we use is pulling two researchers behind a boat on a manta tow. Each researcher looks 3 meters to the left or right of their side of the tow and is dragged for about 1000 meters, counting every live juvenile, sub-adult, and adult. Any adults spotted are collected and measured before being returned into the water. We expect to find that populations of queen conch are still steadily declining because of overfishing.

How This Research Will Influence Future Conservation Initiatives

The data that this student research group collects over the course of the semester will help researchers at CEI begin to understand the population density of queen conch off of Cape Eleuthera and inform future research projects. These numbers will also serve as a historical marker for population size in the area.