There is a strombus gigas aquaculture farm on Providenciales in the
Turks/Caicos Islands. They have a display showing a picture of a conch pearl
and explaining the conch life cycle and they give a tour of their farm. They
raise fry in tanks and feed them a special algal mixture they raise
themselves. After, they put them in fenced areas in a "subsea pasture." They
sell harvested conch shells locally, but I do not know if they do it on a
large scale. They have an inventory of one million conchs and they have a
goal of harvesting one million per year.  Their address is:

Caicos Conch Farm
TWI, Ltd - P.O. Box 286
Providenciales
Turks & Caicos Islands, BWI
[log in to unmask]

----- Original Message -----
From: "mike gray" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2003 3:15 PM
Subject: Re: Strombus gigas raised for food?


> Ross Mayhew wrote:
> >
> > My apologies if part of this posting is perhaps not a fitting request
> > for this list.  First, i am wondering if Strombus gigas is still
> > "farmed" for food in parts of the Carribean these days, and on what
> > scale?  Do most of the shells go into the tourist trade? (i.e. for
> > tourists from countries other than the USA)  Second, if the answer is
> > yes, does anyone have the email or other contract information for one or
> > more of these "conch farms"??
> >
> > I would also like to know if anyone knows how easy it is to culture
> > Strombus gigas pearls?  I understand they can be extremely beautiful,
> > yet i have never heard of them being cultured.
> >
> > >From Summertime in the Faire Lande of New Scotland,
> > Ross M.
>
> I believe there are a couple S. gigas farms in the Bahamas.
>
> We also have one here in Florida, at Harbor Branch Oceanographic. A
> friend used to be their chief flak, but has left. They do enjoy
> visitors, though.
>
> See: http://www.hboi.edu/news/features/queenconch.html
>
> m