Large gastropods (such as Neptunea) feature in many northern Asian cuisines, particularly those of Korea and coastal China. There's definitely a market for them. My local Vietnamese fish seller in Cherry Hill, NJ always has live "conch" (Busycon, probably from New Jersey) alongside frozen "whelk" (Buccinum verkruezeni from Alaska, or B. undatum from eastern Canada); down the street at H-Mart there's also canned and frozen Babylonia and both places offer shrink-packed freshwater Cipangopaludina for the stronger palate. (Last week H-Mart had some magnificent live Panopea too; they always have farmed abalone, and the usual live Mytilus and Mercenaria).

Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology, Invertebrate Paleontology and General Invertebrates

Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
[log in to unmask] Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170



-----Original Message-----
From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steve Rosenthal
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2014 9:53 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CONCH-L] conch'd out: new fishery laws for Busycon whelks

Story in our local newspaper this week: for the first time ever, the State Dept of Environmental Conservation is proposing size limits on Busycon whelks taken commercially  in NY (and Connecticut may follow the same). The whelks are apparently showing signs of being overharvested, the new size limits would require shells to be over 3 inches in diameter, which is about
5.5 inches long. Since New York's lobster population is pretty much kaput, most of the fishermen still fishing have turned to whelks, which fetch $2.60/pound wholesale according to the newspaper article. (thats not far off from the lobster price in a good year, which seems rather surprising, i know which one i would rather put on my table- at least to eat).

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